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THE LEADING FACTS OF 
HISTORY SERIES 

By D. H. Montgomery 



Beginner's American History (New 
Edition) (Biographies of Eminent 
Americans) 

An Elementary American History 

The Leading Facts of American History 
(New Revised Edition) 

The Student's American History 
(Revised Edition) 

The Leading Facts of English History 
(Revised Edition) 

The Leading Facts of French History 





NDErKXDKNCIi DaY. AMERICAN SoLDIERS SALUTING THE StATUE OF 

Washington, Paris, July 4, 1918 
From a paintinj? by J. F. Bouchor, Official Painter to the French Armies 



Ubc XeaMnci jfacts ot Ibtstoti^ Bevies 

THE LEADING FACTS OF 
AMERICAN HISTORY 



BY 

D. H. MONTGOMERY 



'America is another word for Opportunity" — Emerson 



NEPr REVISED EDITION 




GINN AND COMPANY 

BOSTON • NEW YORK - CHICAGO • LONDON 
ATLANTA • DALLAS • COLUMBUS • SAN FRANCISCO 






COPYRIGHT 1890, 1895, 1896, 1899, 1910, 1917, 1920, BY D. H. MO; 
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
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PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. 



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PREFATORY NOTE 

This work is based on a careful study of the highest recognized 
authorities on the subject. Its purpose is to present in a clear, 
connected, and forcible manner the important events in the his- 
tory of our country. 

The author has had three chief objects in view, — accuracy 
of statement, simplicity of style, impartiality of treatment. 

In the preparation of this work his grateful acknowledgments 
are due to John Franklin Jameson, Director of the Department 
of Historical Research of the Carnegie Institution of Washing- 
ton, for his valuable assistance in the revision of the proof sheets. 
The author also desires to express his thanks for the use of books 
and papers in the Library of Harvard University, the Library of 
Congress, and the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
and he is especially indebted to the Librarian and the attend- 
ants of the Boston Athenaeum for the aid they have so courte- 
ously rendered him. 

The present edition has been revised throughout and brought 
up to date. DAVID H. MONTGOMERY 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Leading Dates xiv 

TEXT 

I. The Discovery and Naming of America, 1492-1522 . . i 

II. Attempts at Exploring and Colonizing America . . 20 

III. Permanent English and French Settlements; the 

Thirteen Colonies 41 

IV. The Revolution; the Constitution, 1763 -1789 ... 134 
V. The Union — National Development; the Federalist 

Party in Power 177 

VI. The Democratic Party in Power . 191 

Vn. The New Democracy 226 

VIII. The Civil War, 1861-1865; the Republican Party in 

Power 280 

IX. Reconstruction — the New Nation, 1865 to the Pres- 
ent Time 328 

APPENDIX 

■ I. the declaration of independence (with an introduction 

and notes) i 

2. THE constitution (WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES) . vi 

3. TABLE OF ADMISSION OF STATES xxiv 

4. TABLE OF PRESIDENTS XXViii 

5. LIST OF BOOKS ON AMERICAN HISTORY ....... XXX 

6. TABLE OF BOUNDARIES OF THE UNITED STATES XXXvii 

7. TABLES OF POPULATION AND REPRESENTATION OF THE UNITED 

STATES " XXxix 

8. QUESTIONS ■ xli 

9. TOPICAL ANALYSIS Ivii 

INDEX (WITH NUMEROUS DATES AND THE PRONUNCIATION OF 

DIFFICULT WORDS) Ixxili 

ix 



LIST OF LARGER MAPS 

Page 

I. The World about the Time of Columbus 5 

II. Expeditions of De Soto and Coronado 23 

III. Early Voyages to America and around the World 29 

IV. Indian Tribes of the United States (colored) -34 

V. Physical Features of the United States (with type page) . . 42-43 

VI. First Settlements made on the Eastern Coast of North America 51 

VII. Homes of the Pilgrims in England and Holland d^ 

VIII. The Thirteen English Colonies and the French Setdements . . rii 

IX. The French and Indian Wars , . 114 

X. The Revolutionary War — Northern States (colored) .... 140 

XI. The Revolutionary War — the Southern States (colored) . . .162 

XII. The United States at the Close of the Revolution (colored) . .170 

XIII. The Northwest Territory, 1787 (colored) 172 

XIV. The United States in I 792 (colored) . . 194 

XV. The W^ar of 181 2 203 

XVI. The Missouri Compromise, 1820 214 

XVII. The Mexican War 253 

XVIII. Area of Freedom and Slavery, 1857 270 

XIX. The United States, 1861-1865 (double page, colored) .... 284 

XX. Territorial Growth of the United States (double page, colored) . 332 

XXI. The United States at the Present Time (double page, colored) . 358 

XXII. The United States and Island Possessions (colored) 380 

XXIII. Where our Men fought in the Great War (colored) . . . . ,416 



LIST OF LARGER ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 
I. American Soldiers in Paris saluting the Statue of Washington, 

July 4, 1918 Frontispiece 

II. Columbus approaching Land 11 

III. Captain John Smith 49 

IV. Penn's Charter 102-103 

V. Washington before the Revolution 118 

VI. Benjamin Franklin 133 

VII. Franklin's Letter to Strahan (script) 147 

VIII. Thomas Jefferson 151 

IX. Alexander Hamilton 181 

X. Henry Clay 220 

XL John C. Calhoun 233 

XII. Daniel Webster 235 

XIII. Abraham Lincoln 275 

XIV. .Grant's " Unconditional Surrender " Letter (script; .... 293 
XV. General Lee 299 

XVI. Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation (script) 303 

XVII. The High-Water-Mark Monument at Gettysburg 304 

XVIIL Soldiers' Monument at Gettysburg 305 

XIX. View from Lookout Mountain 311 

XX. General Grant 313 

XXI. Admiral Farragut with Porter and Foote (Civil War) . . .317 
XXII. (lenerals Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas, Hooker, and Hancock 

(Civil War) 319 

XXIII. Sherman's Field Order announcing Lee's Surrender . . , .322 

XXIV. Lee's Letter to Grant (script) 323 

XXV. Spanish War, — Naval Commanders 375 

XXVI. Spanish War, — Army Commanders 379 

XXVII. Commanders in the Great War 415 

XXVIIL A Town destroyed in Western France 417 

XXIX. Pershing's Victorious Army in Washington 419 

xi 



LEADING DATES 



1492. Columbus discovers America (§ ii). 

1497. Cabot discovers the coiitbient of North 
America (§ 14). 

1541. Discovery of the Mississippi (§21). 

1585. English colonization of America be- 
gins (§ 27). 

1607. Permanent English colonization of 
Virginia (§46). 

1619. Representative Government estab- 
lished in Virginia (§51). 

1619. Negro Slavery introduced (§ 52). 

1620. The Pilgrims settle Plymouth (§ 73). 
1626. Purchase of Manhattan Island (§ 60). 
1630. 'Jhe Puritans settle Boston (§ ■]']). 
1636. Entire Religious Toleration in Rhode 

Island (§ loS). 
1636. Harvard College founded (§80). 
1639. The Constitution of Connecticut (§ 96). 
1639. First Printing Press (§ 80). 
1643. New England Confederation (§ Si). 
1647. Public Schools established (§ 80). 
1649. Act of Toleration in Maryland (§ 102). 

1675. King Phihp's War (§ 86). 

1676. The Bacon RebelHon (§55). 
1704. First Newspaper established (§ 146). 
1763. Treaty of Peace with France (§ 143). 
1765. The Stamp Act (§ 157). 

1773. TheColonistsdestroy taxedTea(§i59). 

1774. First Continental Congress (§ 160). 

1775. Lexington and Concord (§ 161). 

1775. Battle of Bunker Hill (§ 163). 

1776. Declaration of Independence (§ 167). 

1777. Burgoyne's Surrender (§ 179). 
1781. Surrender of Cornwallis (§ 189). 
1781. Articles of Confederation (§ 192). 
1783. Treaty of Peace (§191). 

1787. Ordinance for the Northwest Terri- 
tory (§ 195). 
1787. The Constitution adopted (§ 196). 
1789. The Constitution goes into operation 

(§ 199). 

1789. The First Tariff (§ 200). 

1790. Provision for paying off the Public 

Debt (§201). 

1790. The First Census (§ 202). 

1791. First Bank of the United States 

(§202). 

1792. Rise of Political Parties (§ 203). 

1792. Claim to Oregon (§ 216). 

1793. Washington's Proclamation of Neu- 

trality (§ 203), 



1793. Invention of the Cotton Gin (§ 205). 

1795. Jay's Treaty (§ 207). 

1798-1799. The Kentucky and the Virginia 

Resolutions (§ 210). 
1803. Purchase of Louisiana (§215). 
1807. The First Steamboat (§ 220). 

1811. The National Road begun (§ 244). 

1812. War with England (§ 226). 
1814. The Hartford Convention (§233). 
1816. Second Bank of the United States 

(§265). First Savings Bank (§423). 

1819. Purchase of Florida (§ 238). 

1820. The Missouri Compromise (§ 243), 
1823. The Monroe Doctrine (§ 246). 
1825. The Erie Canal opened (§ 250). 

1830. The First Passenger Railway (§ 254). 

1831. The Z./<5'fr<7/«7r published (§262). 

1832. Jackson vetoes the United States 

Bank Bill (§ 265). 
1832. NuHification in South Carolina (§ 267). 
1837. Great Financial Panic (§ 275). 

1844. First Telegraph Line opened (§ 284). 

1845. Annexation of Texas (§ 285). 

1845. The Horse Reaper (§ 303). 

1846. Ether begins to come into use (§ 284). 
1846-1848. The Mexican War (§ 290). 
1848. Discovery of Gold in California (§ 295). 
1848. Mexican Land Cessions (§ 294). 
1850. Compromise on Slavery (§ 299). 
1854. Kansas-Nebraska Act (§ 305). 
1857. The Dred Scott Case (§310). 
1861. The Civil War begins ('§ 320). 
1863. National Banks established (§ 324), 
1863. Emancipation Proclamation (§ 340). 
1863. Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg 

(§§ 343, 344)- 
1867. Reconstruction Act (§ 364). 
1867. Purchase of Alaska (§ 368). 
1869. First Railway to the Pacific (§ 370). 
1871. Arbitration Treaty with England (§374). 
1879. Specie Payment resumed (§ 379). 
1883. Civil Service Reform (§381). 
1898. War with Spain (§414). 
1898. Territorial Expansion (§419). 
1900. The Gold Standard Act (§ 425). 
1903. The Wrights' Aeroplane (§ 373). 
1908. Conservation of Resources (§430). 
1914. Proclamation of Neutrality (§440- 
1914. Panama Canal opened (§§ 425,440). 
1914. New System of Banks (§ 440). 
1917. War with Germany (§ 445). 



THE LEADING FACTS OF 
AMERICAN HISTORY 

I 

" He [the Most High] gave to thee [Columbus] the keys of those gates of 
the Ocean . . . which were fast closed with such mighty chains/' — Drea;/i 
of Coluinbiis ; see his Letter to the King and Queen of Spain, i 503. 

THE DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF 
AMERICA^ 

(1492-1522) 

COLUMBUS • CABOT • AMERIGO VESPUCCI 2 

I. Birth of Columbus; Ideas about the Earth; the "Sea of 
Darkness." Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America, 
was born in Genoa, Italy .'^ 

At that time the earth was generally supposed to be fiat, to be 
much smaller than it actually is, and to be habitable on its upper 
side only. The countries laid down on the rude and imperfect 
maps then in use were the continent of F2urope, part of Asia, a 
narrow strip of northern and eastern Africa, and a few islands, the 
largest of which were the British Isles and Iceland. (Map, p. 2.) 

1 Reference Books. R. G. Thwaites' " Colonies," pp. 21-25; W. C. Bryant and 
Gay's "United States" (revised edition), I, ch. 3, 5, 6 ; J. Fiske's "Discovery 
of America," I, 148-255, 3:55-446; W. Irving's "Columbus" (abridged); T. W. 
Higginson's "American 'Explorers," pp. 21-32; E. G. Bourne's "Spain in 
America," pp. 9-60 ; A. B. Hart's " Source Book," pp. 1-6; A. B. Hart's " Ameri- 
can History by Contemporaries," I, 28-49; S"d Eist of Books in the Appendix. 

Difficult words are pronounced at the bottom of the page or in the Index. 

2 Amerigo Vespucci (a-ma-re'gt^ ves-poot'che). 

3 The date of the birth of Columbus cannot be determined with certainty ; it was, at any 
rate, between 1430 and 1456. 

I 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [850-1000 



The Atlantic was called the " Sea of Darkness." People gen- 
erally believed that it was covered with thick black fogs, and was 
guarded by terrible monsters which made it impassable. 

Long before Columbus was born, storm-driven sailors chanced 
to discover the Canaries and the Azores. These islands, with 
Iceland, marked the western limit of voyages. Navigators, even 

with the help of the mariner's 




compass, did not dare venture 
beyond them. 

All the countries of south- 
ern and eastern Asia were at 
that time known under the 
general name of the Indies. 
2. The Voyages and Dis- 
coveries of the Northmen. But 
in saying this we must make 
one exception : the Northmen, 
those daring sailors of Norway, 
Sweden, and Denmark, from 
whom the English-speaking 
race has largely sprung, ^ braved 
even the tempests and the ter- 
rors of the Atlantic. By acci- 
dent they made a number of 
remarkable discoveries several centuries before Columbus. Though 
they had no compass, — no guide, in fact, but the sun and the 
stars, — yet they frequently made long voyages in rudely built 
vessels not larger than fishing boats. 

In these voyages the Northmen discovered and settled Iceland 
(850) and, later, Greenland. Finally, about the year 1000, Leif 

1 The Northmen invaded and permanently settled the northeastern half of England in 
the 9th century. In the next century they established themselves in northwestern France, 
which district was called from them Normandy (the country of the Normans, or Northmen). In 
1066 the Normans crossed the Channel and conquered England. Hence many English, since 
the 9th century, and their descendants in America must have sprung from the Northmen. 

Furthermore, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish immigrants have come to America in 
great numbers and are still coming. They are noted for their intelligence, industry, and 
thrift, and they make excellent citizens. 



Copy of a Map of the World as 
KNOWN IN 1496 

The faint, dotted outline of the coast of Africa 

shows the unexplored portion. The monsters 

represent the terrors of unknown regions. 



1000] VINLAND 3 

Ericson, a Northman, who was afterward known as " Leif the 
Lucky," discovered the coast of North America. He named the 
new country V inland, ^ because of the quantities of wild grapes 
which he found there. 

It is impossible to say where Vinland was, but it seems prob- 
able that it was on some part of the coast of New England or 
Nova Scotia. 

3. The Discovery of America by the Northmen had no Prac- 
tical Result. But although it is interesting to know that the 
Northmen visited our shores as early as the year 1000, still their 
discovery led to nothing. The North- 
men did not found a permanent colony 
in Vinland, and the memory of it grad- 
ually died out. 

Columbus never seems to have 

heard of such a 

country. He sailed 

on his famous 

voyage nearly five 

hundred years after 

" Leif the Lucky" 

landed on the coast 

of North America. 

We are therefore ^ ^ , „ 

Leif Ericson's Vessel 
quite safe m saying 

that when Columbus set out to cross the Atlantic one half the 

world did not so much as suspect the existence of the other half. 

4. What Land Columbus wished to reach; Marco Polo*s 
Travels; the First Reason why Columbus wished to go to the 
Indies. What, then, let us ask, first induced Columbus to under- 
take a voyage that no other man of that age dared embark upon .? 
It was not because he expected to find a new continent beyond 

1 The Northmen used to relate accounts of their voyages, and in one of these accounts, 
which was written out hundreds of years later, we read : " And when spring came they got 
ready and sailed off ; and Leif gave a name to the land after its sort, and called it Vinland 
(Vineland). They sailed then . . . until they saw Greenland . . . after that, Leif was called 
' Leif the Lucky.' " 




4 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1453 

the Atlantic, for no one then expected that. What he set out to 
do was simply to find a new way to reach the Indies by sailing 
westward. 

Columbus burned with a desire to explore the marvelous 
eastern lands which had been described by the great Venetian 
traveler, Marco Polo, more than two hundred years before (1260- 
1295). Polo had made an overland journey to India and China 
and had spent nearly thirty years there. He also gave some 
account of Japan, — a country which Europe never had heard 
of before. 

Columbus believed that God had chosen him to go out as a 
missionary to these far-off lands. He kept that belief to the end. 
It gave a certain dignity to his work, and made his life noble in 
many ways. 

5. The Second Reason why Columbus wished to reach the 
Indies. But the question naturally arises, if Columbus wished to 
reach the Indies, why did he not follow in the footsteps of his 
predecessor, Marco Polo (§4), and go overland to that country .? 

It was because Columbus, being a sailor, naturally wished to 
open up direct trade by water with the rich countries of the East ; 
for commerce always prefers the sea, when practicable, as the 
cheapest and easiest route. 

In that age the people of Europe used great quantities of 
spices, not only to flavor their food but also to preserve it. They 
obtained these spices from the Indies. They also imported silks, 
perfumes, precious stones, and many other articles from that part 
of the world. 

Genoa and Venice had carried on this trade for centuries ; one 
by way of the Black Sea, the other by the Red Sea (Map, p. 5), 
but in both cases the goods had to come part of the way over- 
land. About the middle of the 15th century (i453) the Turks 
took Constantinople and broke up the Genoese branch of the trade 
with the Indies. Later, the Venetian branch by way of the Red 
Sea was broken up by the same people. 

6. Attempt of the Portuguese to reach the Indies by a New 
Route. This great change compelled the nations of southern 




The World as known shortly before and shortly after the 
Sailing of Columbus 

Light arrows show voyages made up to 1492 ; light track, Da Gama's voyage, 1497-1498. 
Dark arrows show voyages of Columbus and Cabot. 

White crosses show countries of which something was known before 1492. 
White area, including western coast of Africa, shows the world as known shortly before 
the sailing of Columbus 



6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1487 

Europe to seek a new route to the Indies. The King of Portugal 
thought that possibly he might find a way round the continent 
of Africa into the Indian Ocean. No one then knew how far 
the ''Dark Continent" extended southward. The King's ships 
made voyage after voyage and slowly worked their way down 
the coast, but it took them more than fifty years to reach the 
southern point. 

Diaz, the Portuguese navigator, finally got to that point (1487), 
but he had such a rough experience that he named it the Cape 
of Storms. When he returned with the great news that he had 
actually come to the end of the African continent, the Portuguese 
monarch felt sure that he could accomplish what he had set out 
to do. To show his confidence in the new route, he called for 
Diaz's chart, drew his pen through the name Cape of Storms, and 
in its place wrote in bold letters that name full of promise, — the 
Cape of Good Hope. 

He was right, for not many years later another Portuguese 
navigator sailed round that cape, reached the peninsula of India 
(1498), and estabUshed a trading post there. 

7. Plan of Columbus for reaching the Indies by sailing West. 
Meanwhile Columbus felt certain that he could find a shorter 
and better way of reaching the Indies than the course Diaz had 
marked out. Instead of sailing east, or south and east, he pro- 
posed to sail directly west. He had four reasons for such an 
undertaking : 

1 . In common with the best geographers of his day, Columbus 
believed that the earth was not flat, as most men supposed, but 
a globe. 

2. He supposed the globe to be much smaller than it is, and 
the greater part to be land instead of water. 

3. As he knew nothing and guessed nothing of the existence 
of the continent of America or of the Pacific Ocean, he imagined 
that the coast of Asia or the Indies was directly opposite Spain 
and the western coast of Europe. 

4. He estimated the entire distance across from Spain to Japan 
at less than 4000 miles. 



1485-1486] COLUMBUS SAILS 7 

His plan was this : he would start from Europe, head his ship 
westward toward Japan, and follow the curve of the globe until it 
brought him to what he sought. To his mind it seemed as sure 
and simple as for a fly to walk round an apple. 

If successful in the expedition, he could enter the Spice Islands 
and the whole region of the Indies directly by the front door, 
while the Portuguese could only enter them in a roundabout way, 
and by a sort of side door. 

Had Columbus correctly reckoned the size of the globe and the 
true length of the voyage he proposed, he probably would not have 
sailed, since he would have seen at once that the Portuguese route 
(§ 6) was both far shorter and cheaper than his. Furthermore, 
if he had imagined that the American continent lay right across 
his path, that would have been another discouraging circumstance, 
because his object was not to find a new country, but a new way 
to an old one. 

8. Columbus seeks and obtains the Assistance of Spain. Colum- 
bus meditated on his great voyage for many years, during which 
time he sought to get the help first of his native city, then of 
Portugal, and finally of Spain (148 5-1 486). He met with noth- 
ing but disappointment. He was regarded as a foolish schemer, 
and the street boys openly mocked him as a lunatic. 

At last, worn out with waiting, and sick at heart, Columbus 
set out to leave Spain, but he was recalled. He had a few stanch 
friends at court who believed, with him, that '' wherever ships 
could sail, man might venture." Through their aid, and espe- 
cially through the gift of a large sum of money from Queen 
Isabella, he obtained the assistance he required. ^ Thus, chiefly by 
a woman's help, the brave sailor got the power to undertake his 
daring enterprise. 

9. Columbus sails. Columbus had succeeded in getting his 
own terms, — he had received the rank of admiral, he was to be 
governor of all lands that he might discover or acquire, and he 
was to have a tenth of whatever treasure he might find. When 

1 The whole amount raised to fit out the expedition was about $93,000, of which sum the 
Queen seems to have contributed over two thirds. See Harrisse's " Columbus." 



8 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1492 



all was ready for the voyage he and his men went to church, 
and implored the blessing of God on their great enterprise. The 
next day, Friday, August 3, 1492, '' half an hour before sunrise," 
Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three small vessels and 
one hundred and twenty men.^ 

Of these vessels, only the largest, the Admiral's ship, had an 
entire deck, and even that was probably of not over one hundred 
tons' burden, or about the size of an ordinary coasting schooner. 




AUSTRA^ 






Correct Chart of Westward Route from Europe to Asia, for 
Comparison with the Chart of- Columbus given above 



1 Columbus kept a regular journal of the voyage from the start. In the introduction to 
that journal he says, respecting one object he had in view : " In consequence of the informa- 
tion which I had given to your Highnesses [the King and Queen of Spain] of the lands of 
India, and of a prince who is called the Grand Khan, which is to say . . . King of Kings . . . 
therefore your Highnesses . . . determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the said 
parts of India to see the said prince and the people and lands . . . and to discover the means 
to be taken for the conversion of them to our holy faith ; and ordered that I should not go 
by land to the East, by which it is the custom to go, but by a voyage to the west, by which 
course, unto the present time, we do not know for certain that any one hath passed." 



1492] 



ROUTE OF COLUMBUS 



Columbus took his route by way of the Canary Islands, because 
Japan, the nearest Asiatic land, was supposed to lie in that lati- 
tude. (Maps, pp. 8, 9.) At the Canaries he was detained several 
weeks repairing the rudder of one vessel and altering the sails 
of a second. 

On September 6 he hoisted anchor and resolutely set out 
to cross that ocean which no civilized man had ever before at- 
tempted to pass over. As the last dim outline of the islands faded 
from their sight many of the sailors were completely overcome. 
Some shed tears, as if they ''had taken leave of the world"; 




Route of Columbus, 1492 

others, unable to restrain their grief, broke out into loud and 
bitter lamentations. 

But Columbus himself had no such fears. He did not feel 
that he was making a leap in the dark. He was an experienced 
navigator, and he had carefully calculated everything and provided 
for everything. 

1 . He had a chart of the globe, made by himself. 

2. He had the mariner's compass for his guide. 

3. He carried with him an improved astrolabe, the instrument 
which was then used for determining position, at sea, by observa- 
tion of the sun. 

But these things were not all. In fact, these were but the mate- 
rial and mechanical means of success. He had the conviction that 
he was engaged in a Providential work, and that he was certain 
to accomplish it. There are occasions in life when such a faith is 
worth everything to its possessor : this was one. 



lO LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1492 

10. The Voyage ; Variation of the Needle ; the Crew are greatly 
alarmed ; the Winged Guides. For a time all went well ; then a 
new and strange circumstance was noticed. It was found that the 
compass no longer pointed toward the north star, but that it varied 
more and more, as they went on, to the west of north. 

This astonished Columbus and greatly alarmed the sailors. 
They began to think that they had now entered a region where 

the ordinary laws of nature were 
suspended, and that to persist 
in keeping on would be destruc- 
tion. Columbus pacified their 
fears as best he could. He, how- 
ever, would not hear of turning 
back then, though he afterward 
promised to do so if land was not 
discovered in a few days. 

On October 7 a flock of land 
birds was seen flying toward the 
southwest, and Columbus decided 
to change his course and follow 
them.^ 

1 1 . Land ! San Salvador ; the 

West Indies and the Indians. A 

Columbus sees a Distant Light ^ . , , , ^11 

few nights later, when Columbus 

was standing on the deck of his ship peering into the darkness, he 

suddenly saw a distant light. It moved about like a torch, carried 

in a man's hand. 

Very early the next morning, Friday, October 12, 1492, a sailor 

raised the joyful cry of '' Land ! Land ! " It proved to be a small 

island of the Bahamas,^ now thought to be Watling's Island. 

1 Read Joaquin Miller's spirited poem on Columbus *in Lane and Hill's "American 
History in Literature " [Ginn and Company], 

2 On his first voyage (1492) Columbus discovered the Bahamas and some of the West 
India Islands. On his second voyage (1493) he discovered the islands of the Caribbean Sea, 
besides Jamaica and Porto Rico. On his third voyage (1498) he discovered Trinidad, off the 
coast of Venezuela, South America; and on the ist of August, the mainland of that conti- 
nent, at the mouth of the Orinoco River. On his fourth and final voyage (1502) he explored 
the coast of Central America and of the Isthmus of Panama. He died in Spain in 1506. 





II 



12 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1492-1493 

When the sun rose it revealed a low sandy shore. It was the 
humble threshold of the New World. 

Columbus, richly 'dressed in scarlet, landed with his men. Kneel- 
ing, they kissed the soil, and with tears gave thanks to God for 
having crowned their voyage with success. Then, with solemn 
ceremonies, the Admiral planted the royal flame-colored banner 




Columbus lands on San Salvador 

of Spain, and took possession of the country for Ferdinand and 
Isabella. To the island he gave the name of San Salvador, or 
the Holy Redeemer. 

Columbus believed this little island to be part of the Indies 
which he was seeking. Since he had reached it by sailing west- 
ward he called the group to which it belongs the West Indies. To 
the natives he naturally gave the name Indians. 

Columbus never found out his mistake in regard to this country. 
He made three more voyages hither ; but he died firmly convinced 
that America was part of Asia, and that he had discovered a short 
and direct all-sea route westward from Europe to' the Indies. 

We should distinctly understand that Columbus never saw any 
part of the mainland of what is now the United States. 

12. Columbus returns to Spain ; his Reception ; the Pope's Divi- 
sion of the World. Columbus built a small fort in Haiti and left a 
few men to hold it. He then sailed for Spain (1493). 



1493-1494] 



LETTER OF COLUMBUS 



13 



Ferdinand and Isabella gave the great sailor such a reception 
as the first civilized man who had crossed the Atlantic merited. 
Those who a year before had laughed at him as crazy, now, cap in 
hand, bowed low before him. Yet the only printed account which 
appeared describing his wonderful voyage was a copy of a letter 
which he had written to the King and Queen. It was entitled : 

'"B Xetter of Cbrietopber Columbue, 

(to whom our Age is much indebted) 
respecting the 

Islands of India, beyond the Ganges, 
lately discovered." ^ 

One important result of this supposed discovery of a western 
route to the Indies was the division of the world by the Pope. 
Spain and Portugal were rivals. Both were eager to get control 
of the commerce with the Far East — especially with the Spice 
Islands of the Indies. In order to keep the two nations from fight- 
ing each other, the Pope drew a perpendicular line, one hundred 
leagues west of the Azores, from the 
north pole to the south pole. The King 
of Portugal was to have all lands dis- 
covered east of that line, and the King 
of Spain all those west of it. Later 
(1494), this dividing line was fixed three 
hundred and seventy leagues west of 
the Cape Verde Islands. 

13. Disappointment of Spain with 
the newly found ** Indies '* ; Death of 
Columbus. Meantime Spain was pic- 
turing to herself the unbounded wealth 
she would gain through future voyages 
of Columbus. But he failed to find any rich spices or mines of 
precious metal, and sore was the disappointment. His men brought 
back no gold, but only a mockery of it in their yellow, emaciated 
faces, discolored by disease. 

1 This letter may be found complete in Major's " Select Letters of Columbus." 




Map showing the Division 

OF THE World made 

IN 1494 



14 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1493-1500 



Loud was the outcry against Columbus. The rabble nicknamed 
him the " Admiral of Mosquito Land." They pointed at him as 
the man who had promised everything, but who had found noth- 
ing but ''a wilderness peopled with naked savages." 

So strong was the feeling against him that the King appointed a 
new governor for the island of Haiti (§ 12). He arrested Columbus 

and sent him back in 
chains to Spain ( 1 5 00) . 
He was released as 
soon as he arrived, 
and lived to make one 
more voyage. Broken 
in health, broken in 
heart, the great sailor 
died in Spain in neg- 
lect and poverty.^ 

But though his clos- 
ing days were pitiful, 
yet none the less the 
voice that he imag- 
ined he once heard in 
a dream spoke truly .2 
He had accomplished 
what no one else had 
those gates of the ocean," which until 




Columbus in Chains 



done, for he had unlocked 



1 Columbus died at Valladolid in 1506. He was buried there, but later his body was 
removed to Seville. In 1536 it was transported to the island of San Domingo. After the 
cession of that island to France by the Spanish the body of Columbus was taken up (as was 
then supposed)^ carried to Havana, Cuba, and there deposited in the cathedral. These reputed 
remains were sent back to Spain in December, 1898, and were deposited in the cathedral of 
Seville. But it may be that the true remains of Columbus still rest in San Domingo. 

Three years before his death he wrote to the King and Queen, saying, " I was twenty- 
eight years old [these figures are believed to be a mistake] . . . when I came into your 
Highnesses' service, and now I have not a hair upon my head that is not gray: my body is 
infirm, and all that was left to me has been taken away and sold. . . . Hitherto I have wept 
over others ; may Heaven now have mercy upon me, and may the earth weep for me I " — 
Letter of Cobitnbus, 1503. 

2 See quotation from the letter of Columbus at the beginning of this chapter, page i. It 
was while he lay sick and in great trouble, on the Isthmus of Panama, that he fancied h© 
heard the consoling voice. 



1497] 



JOHN CABOT 



15 




The Light Parts of this Map show how much of 
America Columbus Discovered 



then had been "fast shut with chains," —the chains of ignorance 

and fear. He failed to find the Indies — but he did something 

immeasurably greater — he discovered ^wmV^. 

14. John Cabot discovers the Continent of North America. But 

great* as was the merit of Columbus, he was not destined to be 

the first to look 

on the mainland 

of America, nor 

was he to give 

it the name it 

bears. The dis- 
covery of the 

continent was 

made by a fel- 
low-countryman, 

John Cabot, of 

Venice, then re- 
siding in Bristol, England. The great voyage of Columbu^ moved 
him to see what he could discover. He hoped to find a northern 

passage to the Indies 
and China, in order 
that he might secure 
the spice trade for the 
English sovereign. He 
failed to discover what 
he sought ; but he did 
better, for he saw what 
no civilized man had 
yet beheld, — the con- 
tinent of North Amer- 
ica. The point where 
he made the discov- 
ery was probably in the 
vicinity of Cape Breton Island, at the entrance to the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence. On a map drawn by his son Sebastian we read 
the following inscription : 




John Cabot approaching Lanu 



l6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1497-1499 



^^ In the year of our Lord I4<)J, John Cabot , a Venetian, and 
his son Sebastian discovered that cotmtry which no one before his 
time had ventured to approach, on the 24th of June, about five 
o'clock in the morning T 

Cabot planted the English flag on the coast, and took possession 
of the country for Henry VH, King of England. 

Tne next year Sebastian Cabot made a voyage, and explored 
the coast from Nova Scotia to Cape Hatteras, or perhaps even 

farther south. 

Henry VH was notoriously fond 
of money, and knew how to hold on 
to it ; but in this particular case 
he tried to be generous. He ap- 
pears to have given John Cabot a 
small pension ; for after his death 
this memorandum was found in 
the King's private expense book : 
'" lOth August, I4gy. To him that 
found the new isle, £,10.'' 

The King certainly got his 
money's worth ; for on that voy- 
age of Cabot's the English based 
their claim to this country. Nearly 
three hundred years later, Edmund 
Burke, the eminent British statesman, said in Parliament, '' We 
derive our right in America from the discovery of [John] Cabot, 
who first made [saw] the northern continent in 1497." 

15. How America got its Name. Two years after John Cabot's 
voyage (1499) another Italian, Amerigo Vespucci,^ went out from 
Spain on an expedition of exploration. Following directly in the 
track of Columbus, and using his charts, he reached the northeastern 

1 Vespucci's voyages : according to what purports to be his own account, Amerigo Ves- 
pucci made his first voyage in the spring of 1497, and saw on June 6th of that year "a coast 
which," he says, "we thought to be that of a continent." If that coast was the continent, he 
discovered the mainland of America eighteen days before John Cabot did (June 24, 1497); 
and more than a year before Columbus saw it, on his third voyage (August i, 1498). In 1499 
Vespucci, following in the track ot Columbus, visited the northeastern coast of South America, 
part of which had been seen and described by the great navigator the previous year. Later, 




Map showing how much of 
North America was dis- 
covered BY THE CaBOTS 



1499-1507] 



HOW AMERICA GOT ITS NAME 



17 



part of the South American coast, somewhere in what is now 
Dutch Guiana. In the course of the next four years he made two 
more voyages in which he visited Brazil. 

On his return to Europe he wrote a pretty full account of what 
he had seen, which was published soon after (1504). 

A teacher in the college of St. Die,^ in eastern France, read 
Vespucci's little pamphlet. He was greatly interested in it because 
it was the first printed descrip- 
tion of the mainland of the 
Western Hemisphere. 

In the year 1 507 this teacher 
published a small book on ge- 
ography. He spoke of the 
different voyages which had 
been made across the Atlantic, 
and ended by saying, '' The 
fourth pai't of the zvoidd hav- 
ing been discovered by Aine?7go 
or Amerieiis, we may call it 
Amerige, or AMERICA." 

People seemed to like the 
idea, and so half of the globe 
received the name it now bears. 
One Italian had found the out- 
posts of the New World, and 
claimed them for Spain (§ ii) ; 
a second had seen the north- 
ern mainland, and taken posr 
session of it for England (§ 14) ; finally, a third, coming after both 
the others, gave to it, perhaps without his own knowledge, the 
title it now possesses in every atlas and history. 

No man that ever lived before or since has such a monument as 
Amerigo Vespucci ; for a name derived from his is written across 

Vespucci visited Brazil. Authorities are divided, but perhaps the greater part now believe 
that Vespucci did not make his first voyage until 1499, and that, therefore, John Cabot was 
the true discoverer of the continent of America. (See Winsor's " History of America," II, 
129-179; Channing's " United States," I, 42-44.) 1 St. Die (san-dee-ay'). 




France 



l8 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1507-1522 

the map of two entire continents. If he deserved it, it is right 
that he should have the honor ; but that is a point which cannot be 
settled. It may be that he has received by chance fame which he 
did not fairly earn, and which, perhaps, he did not even seek. 

1 6. How America finally came to be considered a New and 
Distinct Continent. But even after America was named, the idea 
that it was a distinct and separate division of the globe was not 
generally accepted. Some thought that South America was a great 
island or southern continent (like Australia) ; but the majority be- 
lieved, with Columbus, that it was simply an immense peninsula 
projecting from southeastern Asia. People, indeed, spoke of the 
*' New World," but all that they usually meant by that expression 
was newly discovered lands. 

The real character of America was first found by Magellan, 
a Portuguese captain who crossed the Atlantic in the early part of 
the 1 6th century. The King of Spain sent him on a voyage to the 
southwest (15 19), to see if he could find a new way to reach 
the Spice Islands. He discovered the strait which now bears his 
name, and, passing through it, entered that great ocean which he 
called the Pacific. 

He pushed on westward until he reached the Philippines, where 
he was killed by the natives. One ship of the expedition kept 
on its course until it crossed the Indian Ocean, doubled the Cape 
of Good Hope (§6), and finally reached Spain (1522). (Maps, 
pp. 5, 8.) 

The Spanish King was so pleased with the result that he gave 
the commander a coat of arms representing a globe bearing the 
motto : '' YoiL first sailed round me!' 

Then men's eyes were opened to the truth. Then they saw that 
America, instead of being a part of the Old World, was in all prob- 
ability an immense, independent continent, a real new world. 

Was that discovery hailed with delight .? Not at all. Europe was 
still bent on finding ''that hidden secret of nature," — a direct 
passage to Asia and the Indies, — and there stood America bar- 
ring all progress. It is true that when the Spaniards found gold and 
silver in Mexico and Peru, they became reconciled in a measure to 



1519-1522] 



SUMMARY 



19 




Equator 



their disappointment. Still, for more than a hundred years after 
Columbus, most of the explorers spent their efforts not so much 
in seeking to find out what was in the new country, as in trying 
to hit on some passage through it or round it which should be 
shorter and better than that which Magellan had sailed through. 

17. Summary. In 1492 Columbus, while attempting to open up 
a direct western all-sea route to 
Asia, accidentally came upon the 
West India Islands, — in other 
words, he discovered America. 
He had no true idea of the 
magnitude of his discovery, but 
supposed the land which he had 
found, and all that which he 
afterward saw, to be part of Asia. 
His great merit was this : he was 
the first civilized man who dared 
to cross the unknown sea of the Atlantic. The glory of that bold 
exploit will always be his. John Cabot, a Venetian, discovered the 
American continent in 1497. 

The voyages of Amerigo Vespucci, who, like Cabot, was a 
native of Italy, and therefore a fellow-countryman of Columbus, 
suggested the name America. Last of all, Magellan's expedition 
round the world (15 19-1522) proved the earth to be a globe, and 
showed that America was, in all probability, a distinct continent, 
and not a part of Asia. 

1 In 190 1 a map was found in Germany which eminent scholars believe was made in 1507 
by Waldseemiiller, the teacher at St. Die, referred to in § 15. It shows the eariiest use of 
the name America on a map. The name is placed on the continent of South America on 
what is now the northern part of the Argentine Republic. This map of 1507 is not as well 
adapted to reproduction in a book of this grade as that of 15 15, given above, and which may 
be found in J. Winsor's "America," II, 118. For a reduced copy of that part of Wald- 
seemiiller's map of 1507, which shows the name America, ^^o. E. G. Bourne's '' Spain in 
America," p. 100; for the complete map, see Fischer and Wieser's Atlas of "The Oldest 
Map with the Name America." 



Map of America 1 from a Globe 
MADE IN 1515 



II 

The discovery of America was " the great event which gave a new world 
not only to Spain, but to civilized man." — Charles Sumner. 

ATTEMPTS AT EXPLORING AND 
COLONIZING AMERICA^ 

THE COUNTRY • THE NATIVES • EFFECTS OF THE DISCOVERY OF 
AMERICA ON EUROPE (1509-1600) 

1 8. Ponce de Leon's Expedition; Discovery of Florida. Early 
in the sixteenth century the Spaniards conquered Cuba. A number 
of years later Ponce de Leon, governor of Porto Rico, resolved to 
start on an exploring expedition to the northward. 

De Leon was growing old, but the Indians excited him by tell- 
ing him of a wonderful land not very far away. They said that 
he would find plenty of gold there, and a fountain which would 
make the old young again. He obtained a charter ^ from the King 
of Spain, which gave him power to go in search of that land of 
promise, and when found, to hold it as governor for life. The 
veteran adventurer felt that if he could once bathe in the waters 
of the miraculous fountain, and get back his youth, he would be 
pretty sure of a long term of office. 

After cruising about for several weeks he struck the mainland 
of North America (i 5 1 3). It was Easter Sunday, a day which the 

1 Reference Books. R. G. Thwaites' " Colonies," pp. 1-7, 7-19, 27-44 ; F. Park- 
man's " Pioneers of France in the New World," pp. 1-15, 85-162 ; W. C. Bryant 
and Gay's " United States " (revised edition), I, eh. 7-10; L. Farrand's " Basis of 
American History" (The Indians), ch. 14-15; E. G. Bourne's "Spain in Amer- 
ica," pp. 108-111, 133-136, 162-168, 169-174, 177-189; L. G. Tyler's " England in 
America," pp. 18-33 ' -^- ^- Hart's " Source Book of American History," pp. 6-14 ; 
A. B. Hart's "American History by Contemporaries," I, 57-64, 81-95; G. Ban- 
croft's " United States," I, ch. 2-5 ; N. S. Shaler's " Story of Our Continent " 
(Physical Geography, etc.). See also the classified List of Books in the Appendix. 

2 Charter : a written grant made by the king or head of a government, conferring certain 
rights and privileges. 

20 



1513] 



BALBOA'S EXPEDITION 



21 



Spaniards call Pascua Florida, or Flowery Easter. Shortly after, 
De Leon landed at a point not very far from where St. Augustine 
now stands. (Map, p. 29.) There he planted the cross, raised the 
Spanish flag, and in commemoration of the day when he had first 
seen the coast, he named the country Florida. Winter is almost 
unknown in that climate, and the dense foliage and profusion of 
bright flowers fully justified the name. 

De Leon failed to discover gold. Worse still, he found no mag- 
ical fountain that could make a man approaching three-score a man 
of twenty. Disappointed in what he most cared for, he set sail 
for Porto Rico. Later, he went back to Florida to colonize the 
country, but was killed by an In- 





^i%\^ 




dian. Thus the old man found 
death lurking for him in that 
'' Land of Flowers," where he 
had hoped to find both riches 
and his lost youth. 

19. Balboa discovers a New 
Ocean ; Cortez in Mexico ; his 
Plans for a Panama Canal. In 
the autumn of the year when De 
Leon first saw Florida (15 13), 
Balboa, a fellow-countryman, 
undertook an exploring expedi- 
tion on the Isthmus of Panama. 
His object was to find a great body of water which the natives 
told him could be seen toward the south from the top of the moun- 
tains. After terrible hardships, Balboa reached the summit of the 
ridge. Looking down, he beheld that magnificent expanse of water 
which Magellan, seven years later, sailed across on his way round 
the world (§ 16). 

A number of days afterwards, Balboa, struggling over rocks, 
wading streams, and cutting his way through tangled vines, suc- 
ceeded in getting to the shore. 

Drawing his sword with one hand, and bearing a banner in the 
other, he marched out knee-deep into the smooth sea, and took 



Balboa discovers the Pacific 



22 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1513-1535 

possession of it and of all lands bordering on it for the sovereigns 
of Spain. Waving his sword, he said, '' I am ready to defend " 
their claim '' as long as the world endures, and until the final day 
of judgment of all mankind." He named that ocean the South 
Sea because he first saw it to the south of where he stood, but 
Magellan named it the Pacific (§ i6). 

Not long afterward the Spanish general, Cortez, landed in 
Mexico, conquered that country, and thus established the power 
of Spain on the Pacific slope of the North American continent. 

Cortez saw what an immense advantage it would be to Spain 
to cut a canal through the Isthmus of Panama. He suggested 
it to the King, but that prudent monarch refused to undertake 
a work which he said would drain his treasury of its last cent. 
Nearly four hundred years later the United States hired an army 
of laborers to '' make the dirt fly." They dug the great Canal 
through from ocean to ocean (§ 440). 

20. French Explorations; Montreal. Up to this time France 
had obtained no part of the New World. But the King of that 
country did not intend to let the other powers of Europe get it all. 
The Pope had, as we have seen (§ 12), granted the new lands to 
the rival nations of Spain and Portugal, but the King of France 
cared nothing for that. '' Show me," said he to the sovereigns of 
those nations, '' the words in the will of ' Father Adam ' which 
divides the earth between the Spanish and the Portuguese, but 
shuts out the French." No one found it convenient to produce 
the will, so the King of France sent out an expedition (1524)^ to 
obtain his share of America. 

Later (1535), Cartier,^ a French navigator, discovered a great 
river in the northern part of America, to which he gave the name 
of St. Lawrence. Ascending the stream, he came to an island 
where he climbed a lofty hill. He was so delighted with the grand 
view that he called the height Montreal, or Royal Mountain. 

1 This was the expedition said to have been undertaken by Verrazano in 1524. He states 
that he landed in the vicinity of Cape Fear, North CaroHna; then sailed about 150 miles 
southward along the coast, and then, turning north, sailed to what is now New York Bay, 
afterward cruising along the coast of New England. 

2 Cartier made his first expedition in 1534, to Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



1539-1541] 



DE SOTO'S EXPEDITION 



23 



21. De Soto's Expedition in the East. Meanwhile De Soto, 
a Spaniard, as greedy for gold as he was cruel, and as daring as 
he was greedy, set out on an expedition to the west. He sailed 
from Cuba (1539) with a force of about 600 picked men and over 
200 horses. 

The expedition landed at Tampa Bay, Florida, and began its 
march of exploration, robbery, and murder. The soldiers seized 
the natives, chained them in couples, and forced them to carry 
their baggage and pound their corn into meal for them. 




De Soto's Expedition in the East, and Coronado's in the V^est 

In the course of two years, De Soto and his men traveled up- 
wards of fifteen hundred miles through what are now the states 
of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. They picked up 
no gold worth mentioning, but, in place of it, they found hunger, 
suffering, and death. They deserved what they found. 

At length, in 1541, the Spaniards, worn out, sick, and disheart- 
ened, came out from the forest on the banks of the Mississippi. ^ 
There De Soto called a halt. He was the first white man that had 



1 Probably at or near a place now called De Soto Front, De Soto County, in the north- 
western comer of the state of Mississippi. 



24 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1542 



ever looked on the main body of that mighty stream which rolls 
for nearly three thousand miles through the heart of the conti- 
nent, and, with its tributaries, has a total navigable length of over 
twenty thousand miles. 

The river at that point is so wide that a person standing on 
the bank can just see a man standing on the opposite side. 
Here the Spaniards crossed. They made a long march westward, 
getting no treasure, but meeting, as they declared, '* Indians as 
fierce as mad dogs." After a time they came back to the great 




De Soto discovers the Mississippi 



river (1542) at that point in Louisiana where the Red River 
unites with it. 

Here De Soto ended his career. Here he died, and was secretly 
buried at midnight in the muddy waters of the Mississippi. 

The survivors at length reached the Spanish settlements in 
Mexico. They were a forlorn band, half-naked, half-starved, look- 
ing worse than the savages they had gone out to subdue. 

22. Coronado's Expedition in the West. While De Soto had 
been moving westward, Coronado, a Spanish governor in Mexico, 
heard of seven wonderful cities in the northeast. The Indians said 
that the principal houses of these marvelous cities were ornamented 
with precious stones, and that the women wore strings of gold 
beads and th'e men belts of gold. Coronado set out (1540) to 



1540-1562] 



CORONADO'S EXPEDITION 



25 



find and conquer these places. (Map, p. 23.) He discovered the 
Grand Canyon of the Colorado ^ in Arizona, and a number of 
Indian pueblos, or villages, in New 
Mexico, built of stone and adobe 
or bricks made of mud dried in the 
sun. But he found no gold, and 
nothing more valuable than some 
bright blue stones. Disappointed 
in his hopes of plunder, he pushed 
on until he reached the plains of 
Kansas. There he first saw and 
hunted the famous ''hunchback 
cows," or buffalo. Had he kept on, 
he might have met his country- 
man, De Soto (§ 21) ; but he was 
disgusted with the Indians, who 
were so miserably poor that he 
could rob them of nothing, so he 
made his way back to Mexico. 

23. Attempts of the Huguenots ^ 
to establish Colonies. Menendez 
destroys them and builds Fort St. 
Augustine. For twenty years after 
De Soto's death (§21), Florida, 
with the adjacent country, was left 
to the undisturbed possession of 
the Indians. Then (i 562) a small 
party of Huguenots attempted to 
plant a colony at what is now Port 
Royal, South Carolina, but the wil- 
derness made them homesick and 
they soon went back to France. 




CORONADO DISCOVERS THE GrAND 

Canyon of the Colorado 



1 Canyon of the Colorado : this tremendous gorge extends for over 300 miles. Its rocky 
walls rise from 3000 to over 7000 feet above the river. Nothing equal to it can be seen in 
any other part of the world, 

2 Huguenots : a name given to the early French Protestants. For a full account of them, 
see " The Leading Facts of French History," in this series. 



26 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1564-1565 



^^'^ 4^ 



The next year (1564) a second band of Huguenots landed on 
the St. Johns River in Florida and built a fort. The King of Spain 
claimed the whole of that region by right of discovery (§§ 11, 18). 
He resolved to break up the French settlement, and sent an officer 
named Menendez to do the work. 

Menendez found the French at the mouth of the St. Johns 
River (1565), but decided not to attack them that day. He sailed 
southward and built a fort which he named St. Augustine. He then 

advanced to the St. Johns, 
surprised the French gar- 
rison, and massacred all but 
the women and children. 

Meanwhile the leader 
of the French forces had 
started to attack the Span- 
iards. Both hated each other, 
both were equally cruel, and 
in such a war neither would 
spare the other. The French 
ships were wrecked and the 
soldiers thrown helpless 
upon the beach. Menendez 
soon found them and put 
them to death. 

Later, Menendez found 
the French leader and sev- 
eral hundred more of his 
men. They were too ex- 
hausted to pake any resistance. The Spaniards made part of 
them slaves for life ; then they took nearly a hundred and fifty 
more, bound their hands behind them, and drove them like catde 
to St. Augustine. There they slaughtered them. In this way 
Menendez laid, in blood, the foundations of the oldest town in 
the United States (1565). 

24. Revenge by De Gourgues. A French Catholic named De 
Gourgues vowed vengeance on the murderers of his countrymen. 




Driving the French Captives to 
Fort St. Augustine 



1667-1578] 



ENGLISH EXPLORATION 



27 



He sailed for Florida. Reaching the St. Johns River, he captured 
the Spanish garrison that Menendez had left there (§ 23), bound the 
prisoners, and hanged them. Over their heads he placed a pine 
board on which he burned these words with a hot iron : '' I do this 
not as to Spaniards, but as to assassins." Then he set sail for 
France. The French never made a second 
attempt to colonize Florida, and the Span- 
iards were left in full possession not only of 
Florida, but of the whole of North America. 

25. English Exploration : Frobisher ; Davis ; 
Gilbert; Drake. It was nearly eighty years 
after John Cabot planted the English flag on 
the coast of North America (§ 14) 
before another such expedition 
was undertaken. 

Then (1576) Sir Martin Fro- 
bisher, followed by Captain John 
Davis, made new attempts to dis- 
cover a northwest passage to the 
Indies. But the ice fields of the 
Arctic Ocean compelled them to 
turn back. 

A little later (1578) Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert set out on a voyage 
of discovery. He took possession 
of Newfoundland, but was soon 
afterward lost at sea. 

Meanwhile Sir Francis Drake, 
a noted English sailor and fighter, 
started on a piratical expedition against the Spanish settlements 
on the western coast of America. 

He passed through Magellan's Strait (§ 16) into the Pacific, 
plundering Spanish towns and Spanish treasure ships as he made 
his way up the coast. He landed at some point in California, 
probably near the Golden Gate. Then he sailed north as far as the 
upper part of the state of Washington. (Map, p. 29.) He hoped 




Drake claims the Northwest 
Coast for England 



28 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1678-1686 

he should have the good luck to discover a strait leading through to 
the Atlantic, so that England could establish direct trade with China 
and the Indies. Failing in that, he took possession of the whole 
northwest coast of America in the name of Queen Elizabeth. 

Crossing the Pacific, he returned to England by way of the Cape 
of Good Hope. Like Magellan (§ i6), he had '* plowed a furrow 
round the world." He was the first Englishman to perform that 
feat (1 577-1 580). 

26. Walter Raleigh's Exploring Expedition to Virginia. A few 
years later (1584) Queen Elizabeth granted one of her favorites, 
Walter Raleigh, a charter giving him the right to explore and 
settle the eastern coast of America. 

He was one of the few men of that day who believed that the 
northern part of the New World was worth settling. Most of the 
expeditions that had crossed the Atlantic went out mainly to dis- 
cover a way through or round the continent to Asia (§§ 14, 16, 25) ; 
but Raleigh thought that England might find that America would 
be worth as much as Asia, or even more. 

He sent out two ships (1584) to explore. The English reached 
Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina. The 
explorers were delighted with the '' native Americans," and spent 
several weeks '' eating and drinking very merrily " with the red 
men. When the explorers returned to England, the Queen was so 
highly pleased with their description of the '' Good Land " that she 
named it Virginia, in honor of her own maiden life, and knighted 
the fortunate Raleigh, who now became Sir Walter. 

27. Sir Walter Raleigh's Colony; the New "Roof and the 
New Weed. Raleigh sent out a number of emigrants to make a 
settlement on Roanoke Island (1585). Th^y stayed less than a 
year and then returned to England. 

Still the experiment was not a complete failure, for they carried 
back a peculiar kind of ''root" — as they called it. The Eng- 
lish baked it and found it excellent. Thus the potato ^ became an 
article of food in the British Islands. 

1 The potato, by which is meant the common, not the sweet, potato, was not cultivated by 
the Indians. Strictly speaking, the potato is not a true root, but an underground stem. 



1585] 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH'S COLONY 



29 



But this was not all. The Indians had a weed whose leaves 
they dried and smoked with great satisfaction. They told the 
white men at Roanoke that '' it would cure being tired." The emi- 
grants tried it, and one of them said that it had so many virtues 



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Early Voyages to America and around the World 



that '' it would take an entire volume to describe them all." Queen 
Elizabeth smoked a very little of this wonderful plant and confessed 
that it was '' a vegetable of singular strength and power." We 
shall see later (§ 50) that Virginia tobacco came to have a very im- 
portant influence on American trade, and also on American history. 



30 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1587-1600 

28. Raleigh sends out a Second Colony. Raleigh, though dis- 
appointed at the return of his first colony, resolved to send out a 
second (1587). John White, the governor of the new colony, laid 
the log foundations of the '' City of Raleigh." 

The Governor's daughter, Eleanor Dare, was the wife of one 
of the settlers. Shortly after her landing, Mrs. Dare gave birth 
to a daughter. She was the first child born of English parents in 
America, and was baptized by the name Virginia. 

Governor White soon sailed for England to get further help 
for the colony, leaving his daughter and his granddaughter, little 
Virginia Dare, to await his return. That was the last he ever saw 
of them. When he returned the island was deserted ; not one of 
the colonists was ever found. Sir Walter Raleigh was obliged to 
give up his project ; and America was left with not a single English 
settler, but with many '' English graves." 

Raleigh had spent over forty thousand pounds on the colony. 
He could do no more ; but he said, '' I shall live to see it an Eng- 
lish nation." He did live to see a permanent English settlement 
established in Virginia in 1607. A hundred and eighty-five years 
after that event (1792) Sir Walter's name was given to the seat 
of government of North Carolina, and thus the " City of Raleigh " 
was enrolled among the capitals of the United States. 

Sir Walter's example was not lost ; for from his day England 
kept the colonization of America in mind, until it was finally accom- 
plished. For these reasons Raleigh is rightly regarded as one of 
the founders of the American nation. 

29. White Settlers in 1600 in what is now the United States. 
As late as the year 1600 there seemed small promise that this coun- 
try would ever be settled and governed by the English-speaking 
race. Look at the situation. More than a hundred years had 
passed since Columbus landed, yet the only white inhabitants of 
the territory now embraced in the United States were a few hun- 
dred Spaniards in St. Augustine, Florida (§ 23), and perhaps a 
few hundred more in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

Over the rest of the country, embracing more than three mil- 
lions of square miles, the Indians ruled supreme. France had tried 



1600] WHITE SETTLERS IN 1600 31 

to get a foothold on the Atlantic coast and had failed (§§23, 24); 
England had tried and failed likewise (§§ 26-28). Spain alone 
had succeeded. In 1600 it certainly looked as though her flag 
was destined to wave over the whole continent from sea to sea. 

30. What America was found to be; its Physical Geography. 
Looking at the territory now included in the United States, let 
us see what the explorers of that age, and of a later one, found 
America to be. In great measure it seemed to them Europe re- 
peated. It has practically the same climate and the same soil. It 
produces, or is capable of producing, the same trees, the same fruits, 
the same crops, with the valuable addition of cotton, sugar, and rice. 
In all ways it is equally favorable to human health and life. 

But this is not all. In two important respects America is supe- 
rior to Europe. That continent commands the Atlantic only ; but 
America commands two oceans, — the Atlantic and the Pacific. 
We can send our ships direct to Europe and Africa from our 
eastern coast, and from our western coast we can send them direct 
to Asia and Australia. This is our first advantage. 

Our second advantage is, that though America repeats all the 
natural features of Europe, — its lakes, mountains, plains, rivers, 
and forests, — yet it repeats them on a far grander scale. Europe 
has no chains of mountains which can compare with the '' Rockies," 
no lakes equal to our Great Lakes, no river like the Mississippi, 
no falls like Niagara, no chasm like the Canyon of the Colorado 
(§ 22), no prairies like those of our western states. 

In fact, no continent on the globe ranks higher than America, 
and the United States holds the best part of it. Besides the 
natural wealth our country possesses above ground in its climate, 
soils, and forests, it has vast stores of wealth underground. 

Look at its quarries of stone for building, its beds of clay for 
making brick, its varied mineral products, gold, silver, copper, and 
lead. Better still, it has immense mines of the two most useful 
minerals known to man — coal and iron. From these gifts of na- 
ture we have drawn riches for generations ; now we shall safeguard 
them against waste (§ 430, No. 3), so that we may continue to 
draw riches from them for generations to come. 



32 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1600 

That distinguished English statesman, the late William Glad- 
stone, declared that ''America has a natural base for the greatest 
continuous empire ever established by man." Later on we shall 
see that the physical geography of our country has had a most 
important influence on its history. (Map, p. 43.) 

Such was the land spread out before the explorers. It seemed 
to offer to all who were disappointed with the Old World an oppor- 
tunity to try, in America, what they could make of life under new 
and broader conditions. 

31. The Indians; the Population then and now. One strange 
fact about the country was that east of the Mississippi the whole 
vast area was well-nigh a solitude. Where to-day more than fifty 
million white men live, there were then only two or three hun- 
dred thousand Indians. Sometimes the explorers would travel for 
days without meeting a human being. The only roads through the 
forests were narrow Indian trails ; the only farms were scattered 
patches of Indian corn ; the only cities and towns were occasional 
clusters of Indian wigwams.^ The truth is, that the Indians did not 
really occupy the land : they simply possessed it. To them it was 
mainly a hunting ground to roam over or a battlefield to fight on. 

32. Personal Appearance of the Indians; the ** Scalp Lock.'' 
Columbus called the natives Indians (§11), but they called them- 
selves simply "Men," or " Real Men " ; " Real Men " they cer- 
tainly often proved themselves to be. The most numerous body of 
Indians in the East was the Algonquins ; the ablest and the most 
ferocious was the Iroquois. (Map, p. 34.) They were a tall, well- 
made race, with a color usually resembling that of old copper. 

The men cut all of their hair off close to the head, with the 
exception of a ridge or lock in the middle. That was left as a 
point of honor. It was called the '' scalp lock." Its object was 
to give an adversary — if he could get it — a fair grip in fight, 
and also to enable him to pull his enemy's scalp off as a trophy 
of the battle. That lock was the Indian's flag of defiance. It 
waved above his head as the colors do over a fort, as if to say, 
" Take me if you can ! " 

1 See Whitelaw Reid's " Greatest Fact in Modern History." 



1600] 



HOW THE INDIANS LIVED 



33 



33. How the Indians lived. The Indians were savages, but 
seldom degraded savages. They Uved by hunting, fishing, and farm- 
ing. Their farming, however, was of the rudest kind. For weapons 
they had bows and arrows, hatchets made of flint, and heavy clubs. 

The Indian believed in a strict division of duties. He did the 
hunting, the fighting, the scalping ; his wife did the work'. She 
built the wigwam, or hut, of bark.^ She planted and hoed the corn 
and tobacco. She made deerskin clothes for the family. When 
they moved, she carried the furniture on her back. Her house- 
keeping was simple. She kindled a fire on the ground by rubbing 




two dry sticks rapidly together ; then she roasted the meat on 
the coals or boiled it in an earthen pot. There was always plenty 
of smoke and dirt, but no one complained. Housecleaning was 
unknown. 

34. The Moccasin ; the Snowshoe ; the Birch-Bark Canoe. The 
most ingenious work of the Indians was seen in the moccasin, 
the snowshow, and the birch-bark canoe. The moccasin was a shoe 
made of buckskin, — durable, soft, pliant, noiseless. It was the 
best covering for a hunter's foot that human skill ever contrived. 

1 The wigwams were of various kinds. Some would hold only a single family ; others 
as among the Iroquois tribe, were long, low tenement houses, large enough for a dozen or 
more families. Some wigwams were made of skins or built of logs. 



34 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [leoo 

The snowshoe was a light frame of wood, covered with a net- 
work of strings of hide, and having such a broad surface that the 
wearer could walk on top of the snow in pursuit of game. Without 
it the Indian might have starved in a severe winter, since only by 
its use could he run down the deer at that season. 

The birch-bark canoe was light, strong, and easily propelled. It 
made the Indian master of every lake, river, and stream. Wher- 
ever there were water ways he could travel quickly, silently, and 
with little effort. He could go in his own private conveyance from 
the source of the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico ; or he could go 
from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the Falls of Niagara ; then 
he could pick up his canoe, carry it round the falls, and begin his 
journey again on Lake Erie westward to Duluth or Chicago. 

35. Indian Government; "Wampum.** Each tribe of Indians 
had a chief, but the chief had little real power. All important 
matters were settled by councils. The records of these councils 
were kept in a peculiar manner. The Indian could not write, but 
he could make pictures that would often serve the purpose of 




Treaty Belt made of W^ampum 

writing. The treaty made by the Indians with William Fenn was 
commemorated by a belt made of '' wampum," or strings of beads 
made of shells. It represented an Indian and a white man clasping 
each other by the hand in token of friendship. That was the 
record of the peace established between them. 

But quite independent of any picture, the arrangement of the 
beads and their colors had a meaning. When a council was held, 
a belt was made to show what had been done. Every tribe had its 
" wampum " interpreters. By examination of a belt they could tell 
what action had been taken at any public meeting in the past. 



1600] INDIAN "TOTEMS" 35 

The beads of these " wampum " strings had another use : they 
served for money, and a certain number of them would buy a 
bushel of corn. But the Indian rarely needed these beads for this 
purpose. The forest supplied him and his family with food, clothes, 
and medicine. Under such circumstances a pocket full of money 
would have been as useless to him as to a bear. 

36. Social Condition of the Indians; "Totems.** The Indian 
had less liberty than the white man. He was bound by customs 
handed down from his forefathers ; he could not marry as he 
pleased ; he could not sit in whatever seat he chose at a council ; 
he could not even paint his face any color he fancied, for a young 
man who had won no honors in battle would no more have dared 
to decorate himself like a veteran warrior than a private soldier in 
the United States army would venture to appear at parade in the 
uniform of a major general. 

Each clan had a ''totem " or badge, to designate it. The ''totem " 
was usually the picture of a squirrel, crow, or some other wild crea- 
ture. Among the Iroquois the figures of the Bear, Turtle, and 
Wolf were the coats-of-arms of the " first families " of the Indian 
aristocracy. The " totem " was also used as a mark on gravestones 
and as a seal. When the United States sells a piece of land to a 
western farmer, it stamps the deed with the government seal, so 
when an Indian sold a tract of land to a white man, he marked 
the deed with a rude representation of the " totem " or great seal 
of his tribe. 

37. Indian Religion ; Indian Character. The Indian usually be- 
lieved in a " Great Spirit " — all-powerful, wise, and good ; but he 
also believed in many inferior spirits, some good and some evil. 

Often he worshiped the evil spirits most. He said : The Great 
Spirit will not hurt me, even if I do not pray to him, for he is 
good ; but if I don't pray to the evil spirits, they may get mad 
and do me mischief. 

Beyond this life the Indian looked for another. There the 
brave warrior who had taken many scalps would enter the happy 
hunting grounds ; there demons would flog the coward to never- 
ending tasks. 



36 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1600 



It has sometimes been said that " the only good Indian is a 
dead Indian " ; but judged by his own standard of right and 
wrong, the red man was conscientious. He would not steal from 
his own tribe ; he would not lie to his friends ; he never became a 
drunkard till the white man taught him. 

38. The Indian's Self-Control; Torturing Captives ; Respect for 
Courage. The Indian rarely expressed his feelings in words, but 
he frequently painted them on his face in red, black, or yellow 
paint. You could tell by his color whether he meant peace or war, 
whether he had heard good news or bad. He sometimes laughed 
and shouted ; he seldom, if ever, wept. From childhood he was 




Stark running the Gantlet 



taught to despise pain. A row of little Indian boys would some- 
times put live coals under their naked arms and then press them 
close to their bodies. The game was, to see which one would first 
raise his arms and drop the coal. The one that held out longest 
became the leader. If an Indian boy met with an accident, and 
was mortally wounded, he scorned to complain ; he sang his 
''death song" and died like a veteran warrior. 

The Indians either adopted their captives or tortured them. 
They liked to see how much agony a captive could bear without 
crying out. The surest way for a prisoner to save his life was to 
show that he was not afraid to lose it. The red man never failed 
to respect courage. 

When General Stark of New Hampshire was taken prisoner 
by the Indians (1752), he was condemned to run the gantlet. 



1600] I'HE INDIAN AND THE WHITE MAN 37 

Two long rows of stalwart young warriors were formed. Each 
man had a club or stick to strike Stark as he passed. But Stark 
was a match for his tormentors. Just as he started on the terrible 
race for life he snatched a club out of the hands of the nearest 
Indian, and knocking down the astonished savages right and 
left, he escaped almost unhurt. The old men of the tribe, who 
stood near, roared with laughter to see the spruce young warriors 
sprawling in the dust. Instead of torturing Stark, they treated 
him as a hero. 

39. The Indian and the White Man ; what the White Man 
learned from him. The Indian was a treacherous and cruel 
enemy, but a steadfast friend. 

He would return good for good, but he knew nothing about 
returning good for evil ; on the contrary, he always paid bad treat- 
ment by bad treatment and never forgot to add some interest. If 
he made a treaty he kept it sacredly ; it is said that in no instance 
can it be proved that he was first to break such an agreement. 
Those of the early white settlers who made friends with the red 
man had no cause to regret it. 

The Indian's school was the woods. Whatever the woods can 
teach that is useful, — and they can teach much, — that he learned. 
He knew the properties of every plant, and the habits of every 
animal. The natives taught the white man many of these things 
and helped him to get fish and furs ; but the most useful thing 
they taught the European settlers was how to raise corn in the 
forest, without first cutting down the trees. 

They showed them how to kill the trees by burning or girdling 
them. Then, when the leaves no longer grew, the sun would shine 
on the soil and ripen the corn. There were times in the history 
of the early settlements of white men when that knowledge saved 
them from starvation, for often they had neither time nor strength 
to clear the soil for planting. 

40. Influence of the Indians on the Early History of the Coun- 
try. But we shall see that the contact between the red men and 
the white men had influences in other ways. Sometimes the 
red men and the white settlers made covenants of friendship and 



38 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1600- 

agreed to help each other fight ; for instance, the Iroquois In- 
dians in New York state agreed to help the English fight the 
Canadian French. By doing^ so, they enabled the English to 
keep possession of the Hudson River. If the Canadian French 
could have got that river, they might have separated the Eng- 
lish colonists in New England from those in Pennsylvania and 
Virginia and so have got the control of a large part of the 
Atlantic coast. 

Finally, the Indian wars prevented the English from scatter- 
ing over the country. These contests forced the white men to 
stand by each other, and thus trained them for union and for 
independence. 

41. Effects of the Discovery of America on Europe. What, now, 
were the effects of the discovery of the New World on Europe .? 
They may be summed up as follows : 

1. There was a sudden and immense increase of geograph- 
ical knowledge. That made it necessary to construct an entirely 
new map of the globe. That map showed what no other ever 
had — the continents of North and South America and the. Pacific 
Ocean. 

2. The New World invited new enterprise : it offered vast 
regions to be explored and conquered. Spain, Portugal, France, 
and England began to plan western empires beyond the Atlan- 
tic. These plans gave rise to a struggle for the mastery, and 
to important and decisive wars, especially between England and 
France. Men of every rank turned their attention to America, — 
some sought wealth, others political power, others a refuge from 
religious or political oppression. Here was room and opportu- 
nity for all. 

3. The discovery of the precious metals in Mexico and South 
America had far-reaching effects. Before those mines were found 
there had often been great scarcity of gold and silver in Europe. 
But the treasure Spain obtained from America enabled her mon- 
archs to equip armies, build palaces, and make public improve- 
ments of all kinds. Thus the riches which poured in from the 
New World gave a great impulse to the life of the Old World. 



1600-] WHAT AMERICA DID FOR EUROPE 39 

4. Intercourse with America had an immense influence on 
trade and navigation. Before Columbus sailed, the commerce of 
Europe was confined chiefly to the Mediterranean. Then little 
vessels crept cautiously along the shore, peddling out their petty 
cargoes from port to port. But now men began to build large 
and strong ships, fit to battle with Atlantic storms, and ocean 
commerce commenced. Trade took its first great step toward 
encircling the globe. 

5. New products were obtained from America. We gave Europe 
Indian corn,i ^-j^g tomato, the turkey, and the potato, for which 
tens of thousands of half -fed European laborers were grateful. 

We also gave the people of Europe such luxuries as cocoa 
and tobacco, and such drugs, dyestuffs, and valuable woods and 
gums as Peruvian bark, cochineal, logwood, mahogany, and india 
rubber. 

6. Before the discovery of America sugar, cotton, rice, and 
coffee, when used at all, were imported by Europe from the 
Indies. 

But these things were then so costly that only the rich could 
afford to use them. Now they were either rediscovered in 
America, or transplanted here. In time they became cheap and 
plentiful, so that even the poor of the Old World came to regard 
them as necessaries of life. 

7. But the discovery of America had still greater results, for it 
made men's minds grow larger because it compelled them to think 
of a rnuch larger world than they had ever thought of in the past. 
The voyage to America was like a journey to another planet. It 
made the people of Europe acquainted with a new race — the 
Indians — and with new animals, new plants, new features of 
nature, new fields of enterprise. Everybody felt that America 
meant opporhmity. That was a wonderful thought. It filled the 
minds and hearts of men with new hope, with new courage, and 
it stimulated them to undertake what they would not have dared 
to do before. 

1 Maize, or Indian com, if not first introduced to Europe from America, was first practi- 
cally introduced from here ; so, too, was india rubber. 



40 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1600- 

42. Summary. The period embraced in this section covers the 
greater part of a century. In it we have three classes of discoveries 
and explorations : 

I .' Those of the Spaniards ; these were confined to the south. 
They comprised Florida, the Pacific, the Mississippi River, Mexico, 
and part of the country north and east of it. 

2. Those of the French ; these related to the river St. Lawrence 
and to expeditions to the eastern coast of Florida and vicinity. 

3. Those of the English ; these included explorations in the 
north, those of Drake on the Pacific, but, more important than all, 
those sent out by Raleigh to Virginia. 

We have followed the Spanish expeditions of Ponce de Leon, 
Balboa, Cortez, De Soto, and Coronado. We have witnessed the 
struggle between the French and the Spaniards for the possession 
of Florida, and have seen it end with the triumph of the Spaniards 
and the founding of St. Augustine (1565), the oldest town in the 
United States. 

On the other hand, we have seen that the English expeditions 
of Frobisher, Davis, and Gilbert, with Raleigh's attempts to estab- 
lish a colony in Virginia, all failed, and that the country was left 
in 1600 with no white occupants but the Spaniards, who seemed 
destined to keep all of America to themselves. 

Finally, we have compared the physical geography of America 
with that of Europe, considered the effects of the contact of the 
white men and the Indians, and have set forth the important 
results of the discovery of America on Europe. 



Ill 

"It cannot be denied that with America and in America a new era com- 
mences in human affairs," — Daniel Webster. 

PERMANENT ENGLISH AND FRENCH 
SETTLEMENTS^ 

THE THIRTEEN COLONIES • FRENCH EXPLORATION OF THE WEST • WARS 

WITH THE INDIANS AND WITH THE FRENCH • COLONIAL LIFE • 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE COLONIES (1607-1763) 

L Virginia, 1607 

43. The desire to go to Virginia ; King James I grants a charter. 

At the beginning of the seventeenth century work was hard to find 
in England. This caused much distress, and thousands who were 
out of employment naturally turned their eyes toward America. 
Many felt that Virginia (§28) stood like an open door inviting 
them to settle in the New World. 

^ Reference Books, {isi, The Thirteen Colonies.) R. G. Thwaites' " Colonies," 
ch. 4-10, 13; W. C. Bryant and Gay's "United States" (revised edition), I, ch. 
11-21; II, ch. 1-19; G. Bancroft's "United States" (revised edition), I, Parti, 
ch. 6-19, Part II, ch. 1-19; II, Part III, ch. 1-4, 15-16; R. Hildreth's "United 
States," I, ch. 3-15; II, ch. 16-24; A. B. Hart's "Source Book," ch. 3-5, 7-8; 
A. B. Hart's "American History by Contemporaries," I, ch. 6, 8, 10-26; II, ch. 
3-16; L. G. Tyler's " England in America," ch. 3-19 ; C. M. Andrews' " Colonial 
Self-Government," ch. 1-19; E. B. Greene's "Provincial America," ch. i, 15-18. 

{2d, The French Exploration of the West.) Bryant and Gay (above), II, ch. 21 ; 
F. Parkman's " Discovery of the Great West," ch. 5-20 ; R. G. Thwaites' " France 
in America," ch. 4 ; Hart's " Source Book " (above), p. 96 ; Hart's Contemporaries 
(above), I, 136, 140. 

{3d, The French and Indian Wars.) Thwaites' " Colonies " (above), pp. 254- 
2575 277-278; A. B. Hart's "Formation of the Union," pp. 23-41 ; F. Parkman's 
" A Half-Century of Conflict," II, ch. 18-20 ; F. Parkman's " Montcalm and Wolfe," 
II, ch. 24-25, 27-28; Hart's Contemporaries (above), II, ch. 19-20. 

{4th, The Colotties in 1763.) G. C. Eggleston's " Life in the Eighteenth Cen- 
tury," ch. 13, 17, 19-21; E. Eggleston's "American Colonists," in the CentJtry 
Magazine, March and May, 1883, January, June, and October, 1884, and April and 
July, 1885 ; J. Schouler's "Americans of 1776." See also the classified List of Books 
in the Appendix. 

41 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 

See Wtnsoi^s ^' America,'^ IV, i-xxx; Skater's ^^ United States^' and " Our Continent^; 

Farrand^s " Basis of American History "; Semple^s ^'•Aynerican History 

and its Geographic Conditions.^'' 

The physical geography of the United States has had and must continue to have a pow- 
erful influence, not only on the health and industry but on the character and progress of 
the American people. 

I. The English colonies were planted on rivers or harbors which invited settlement and 
favored their commercial intercourse with the mother country, with the West Indies, and 
with each other. 

II. The Appalachian range barred the West against the colonists and confined them to 
a long, narrow strip bordering on the sea. This limitation of soil had important effects on 
the occupations and the exports of the settlers, while it encouraged the development of 
union, political strength, and independence. 

III. The Canadian French, on the other hand, having control of the St. Lawrence and 
the Great Lakes, soon got temporary possession of the Mississippi Valley. This led to a 
war which ended by giving the West to the English colonists. 

IV. The first English-speaking settlements made west of the Alleghenies were planted 
on streams flowing into the Mississippi, — a river system 35,000 miles in extent, watering the 
great central valley of the continent. Later, the steamboat made that vast region accessible 
in all directions. 

V. After the colonies secured their independence, the boundaries of the American 
Republic were fixed by successive treaties. These boundaries were determined, to a great 
extent, by (i) coast lines ; (2) rivers and lakes ; (3) watersheds ; (4) mountain ranges. In 1783 
our possessions bordered upon the Atlantic only; in 1803 they touched the Gulf of Mexico; 
in 1846 they reached the Pacific (see "Table of Boundaries"). 

VI. The most pressing question with every rapidly growing people is that of food supply. 
Some nations of Europe — notably Great Britain — can only feed themselves by importing 
provisions. America is so fortunate in soil, cHmate, and extent of territory, that the people 
produce not only all the breadstuffs and meats they require, but they have an immense sur- 
plus for exportation. 

VII. Next in importance to grain and meats are cotton, wool, timber, coal, petroleum, 
iron, copper, and the precious metals. These products are powerful factors in the develop- 
ment of modern civilization, and it is believed that no continent is richer in them than our own. 

VIII. While cotton fastened slavery on the South, the abundant water power of New 
England gave the first impulse to American cotton manufacturing. On the other hand, the 
western prairies stimulated agriculture and immigration, and encouraged the building of 
railways, which in twenty years did more to open up the country than two centuries had 
done before. Again, physical geography has influenced legislation respecting labor, the 
tariff, trade, currency, and the building of roads and canals ; furthermore, it determined 
decisive military movements in the Revolution (see Washington's retreat across the Dela- 
ware, § 173) and the Civil War (see §§ 334, 335, 336). 

IX. Experience proves that the physical conditions of the United States favor health, 
vigor, and longevity. Statistics show that in size and weight the American people are fully 
equal, if not, indeed, superior, to Europeans, while their average length of Hfe appears to be 
somewhat greater (see Rhodes's " United States," III, 73, 74). 

X. The conclusion of eminent scientists is that no part of the globe is better suited to 
the requirements of one of the master races of the world than the United States, and such 
statesmen as Lincoln and Gladstone have declared their belief that this country has a nat- 
ural base for the greatest continuous empire ever established by man. 

42 




43 



44 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1607 

Virginia was a country of vast extent. It stretched northward 
from Cape Fear to the middle of Nova Scotia, — a distance of a 
thousand miles ; westward it reached to the Pacific. 

King James I granted a charter authorizing two trading com- 
panies in England to send out emigrants. The London Company 
had the right to plant a colony in the southern part of Virginia, 
while the Plymouth Company had power to plant one in the 
northern part, but it never succeeded in doing so. (Map, p. 51.) 

Both companies were full of great expectations. They hoped to 
find mines of gold and silver in the Virginia woods, or, if they 
failed in that, to find a water passage through the country to the 
Pacific, the Indies, and the Spice Islands (§ 14). 

44. Government of the Virginia Colonies. The royal charter 
provided that each colony should be governed by a council in 
Virginia, which was subject to a council in England under con- 
trol of the King. 

The most important article in the charter was that in which the 
King declared that the settlers in Virginia should enjoy all the 
iHghts and p7i,vileges possessed by the people living in Eftgland. 
This article he repeated in many other colonial charters. We 
ought to bear in mind that the English sovereign was the only 
one in Europe who would grant such an advantage as that to 
those who left their homes to go to America. 

Many additional instructions were given, among them were four 
which required : 

1. That the colonists should establish the Church of England 
as the only form of worship. 

2. That for five years no land should be granted to any settler, 
but all were to deposit the products of their labor in the Company's 
warehouses, from which they would receive necessary supplies of 
provisions and clothing. 

3. The colonists were expected to carefully explore all the rivers 
near them to see if they could find a short and easy way by which 
vessels might get to the Pacific Ocean. . 

4. The colonists were ordered to take pickaxes with them to dig 
for precious metals. 



1607] ' JAMESTOWN SETTLED 45 

45. The London Company's Colony sails ; Captain John Smith. 

The London Company (§ 43) soon sent out emigrants. Very few 
of them were fit to struggle with the rough life of the American 
wilderness. The majority had no intention of remaining. They 
expected to pick up fortunes and then go back to England to 
spend them. 

Luckily there was a young man of decided ability among them. 
This was Captain John Smith. His energy and courage saved the 
emigrants from starvation. 

46. The Emigrants settle Jamestown, Virginia, 1607; Condi- 
tion of the Colony. The expedition reached the American coast in 
the spring of 1607. The colonists numbered 104 ; all were men. 
They sailed up a river of Virginia, which they named the James 
River, in honor of the King ; for the same reason they named the 
settlement which they began (May 13) on a peninsula (now an 
island) on that river, Jamestown. 

But although the royal charter gave the settlers the same rights 
in America which they had enjoyed in England (§ 44), yet they 
did not receive them at once. At home many of them had the 
power to vote and to take part in making the laws by which they 
were governed ; in the Virginia forests they could do neither. 
But we shall see that some years later the colonists obtained all 
the rights which the King had promised them (^ 51). 

Next, they owned no land, and the work of their hands did not 
belong to them. In this last respect they were worse off than the 
poorest day laborer they had left behind them. Furthermore, the 
idle man was certain that he would not suffer, for he could draw 
provisions out of the common storehouse ; the industrious man, on 
the other hand, knew that by the sweat of his toil he must feed 
the idle. Yet we should never forget that, in spite of all these 
drawbacks, this little band of men laid the first foundation stone 
of the American Republic. Three hundred years later (1907) we 
celebrated that landing at Jamestown, and the great nations of the 
world sent war ships to join us in that celebration. 

47. Sufferings of the Colonists ; Search for the Pacific ; Poca- 
hontas. The new settlers built a small fort as a defense against 



46 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1607 

the Indians. Then instead of building houses they made them- 
selves some rude shelters out of branches of trees or old sails. 

Soon many fell sick, and by autumn half of the colonists had 
died. When the cool weather set in matters began to improve, 
and the men put up some log cabins for themselves. Later, they 
urged Captain Smith to lead an exploring expedition to find the 
Pacific Ocean (§§43, 44). They set out in high spirits, supposing 
that, at that point, the country was less than 200 miles across 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific! 

In the course of the exploration Smith was captured by the In- 
dians, and taken to their chief, Powhatan. The chief was '' a tall, 




Building the Fort at Jamestown 

sour-looking old man"; he ordered his warriors to knock Smith's 
brains out. According to the captain's account, he was saved by 
Pocahontas, the chief's youthful daughter, who ran up, just as the 
club was raised, and put her arms around the prisoner's head.^ 

Some years afterward, John Rolfe, a Virginia colonist, became in- 
terested in Pocahontas. He labored to convert that tender-hearted 
heathen and make a Christian of her. While engaged in this 
agreeable work he fell in love with her and married her. The 
marriage made Powhatan the firm friend of the colony at a time 
when it needed all the friends it could get. 

1 Up to i860 the truth of the Pocahontas story had never been questioned ; but certain 
inconsistencies in Smith's account of the affair led the late Mr. Charles Deane to deny 
its authenticity; see Winsor's "America," III, i6i. For a defense of Smith's account, see 
Professor Arber's edition of Smith's works, and his article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica 
on " John Smith " ; also John Fiske's article in the Atlantic Monthly, December, 1895. 



1608] THE FRENCH SETTLE IN CANADA 47 

48. Gold? the French settle in Canada (1608); the Colony's 
Debt to Smith; the Colonists set out to leave Jamestown. Not 

long after Smith's adventure with the Indians, one of the settlers 
found a yellowish substance which some said was gold. Smith 
called it " rubbish," and declared that the American cod fisheries 
would be worth more to the English people than any gold mine. 
But the colonists loaded a vessel with the " gilded dust " and sent 
it home. The stuff turned out to be that worthless kind of glitter- 
ing iron ore popularly known as '' fool's gold." 

In the summer of that year (1608) an event occurred destined 
to have important results. Champlain, a famous French explorer, 
sailed up the St. Lawrence to Quebec, and there established the 
first permanent French colony in America. It was the feeble be- 
ginning of a rival power which was one day to dispute the right 
of the English to possess any part of the country. 

Shortly after this date Smith was chosen governor of the colony. 
He made a rule that no one should stand idle. Under him those 
who tried to live without working soon found that they must also 
try that harder thing — to live without eating. But the Captain's 
term of office was short, for he met with a fearful accident that 
made it necessary for him to return to England. He never revisited 
the colony. 

After he had gone, the Indians began depredations. Every- 
thing went to rack and ruin. Sickness and famine set in. In six 
months only sixty persons were left out of five hundred. A ship 
came, bringing more colonists and some supplies ; but matters 
looked so discouraging that the settlers resolved to abandon the 
country and go back to England. 

49. Lord Delaware; Governor Dale; the Great Land Reform. 
Lord Delaware, the new governor sent out from London, met 
them as they were leaving Jamestown, and compelled them to 
turn back. He had the power of ruling by military law, and could 
hang a man without a jury to decide his guilt. 

Lord Delaware was succeeded by Governor Dale. He was a 
stern old soldier, determined to preserve order. If a colonist talked 
against his regulations, the Governor bored a hole through his 



48 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [iho8-1(;i2 

tongue : that kept him quiet for a while. If a man refused to go 
to church, he put him on short allowance of victuals, and whipped 
him every day until he begged to hear preaching. 

But the new governor was not a tyrant. He really sought the 
welfare of the colony. He practically abolished the old system of 
living out of the public storehouse (§ 46). To every settler he gave 
a small piece of land, and allowed him a certain number of days 
in the year to work on it for himself. 

From this time a new spirit animated the community. Before 
this, no matter how hard a man toiled he had nothing he could 
call his own. But now every man could look with pride on his 
little garden, and say, ''This is mine!' That feeling gave him 
heart ; before, he had worked in silence ; now, he whistled while he 
worked. Before, he had not cared much whether he had the right 
to vote or not ; but now that he was a property holder, he wanted 
that right, and, as we shall see, he soon got it. 

50. What Tobacco did for Virginia. At this time (161 2) John 
Rolfe, the husband of Pocahontas (§ 47), began the systematic 
cultivation of tobacco (§27). In the course of a few years it came 
to be the greatest industry in Virginia.^ At one time even the 
streets of Jamestown were planted with it. It took the place of 
money, and clergymen and public officers received their salaries in 
it. Before this, America had practically nothing to export. With 
tobacco, commerce began ; for Europe was ready to buy all the 
colonists could raise. 

The outlook of the colony now began to change for the better. 
The cultivation of tobacco had four important effects : 

1. It directly encouraged the settlers to clear the land and 
undertake working it on a large scale. 

2. It established a highly profitable trade with Europe. 

3. It induced emigrants who had some money, and also in- 
dustrious farmers, to come over to Virginia and engage in the 
new industry. 

1 The value of the tobacco crop of the United States is now about ^91,000,000 annually, 
that of cotton, the cultivation of which was begun about the same time, but not then extended, 
is upwards of #820,000,000. See Abstract of Census of 1910. 




Captain John Smith 



49 



50 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1612-1619 



4. It introduced the importation of negro slaves as the cheapest 
means of carrying on great tobacco plantations. 
• The tobacco farms were on the banks of the James or other 
rivers, and vessels could load at them direct for England. But 
the cultivation of tobacco exhausted the soil. This compelled the 
planters to constantly add new land to their estates, and so pushed 

the owners farther and 
farther apart from each 
other. 

One result of this 
separation and of the 
lack of towns was that 
neither schools nor 
printing-presses came 
into existence until 
very late. The mass 
of the people had to 
get their education 
from nature, not from 
books or newspapers. 
Another result of 
the want of towns 
was that men seldom 
met to discuss public 
matters. 
51. Virginia becomes practically Self-governing, 1619; Im- 
portation of Wives. The year 16 19 was a memorable one in the 
history of the colony. That year Sir George Yeardley came over 
from England as governor. Acting under instructions from the 
London Company, he summoned a general assembly or Legisla- 
ture, to be elected by all the freemen of Virginia. Later, none 
but taxpayers could take part in the election of members of the 
Legislature. 

The choosing of this Assembly was the first step in carrying 
out that provision in the charter which gave every colonist all the 
rights and privileges he had at home in England (§ 44). 




Loading a Cargo of Tobacco 




FIRST SETTLEMENTS MADE 
ON THE EASTERN COAST 
OF NORTH AMERICA 

Virginia, by its first charter(1606), 
extended along the coast from Cape 
Fear to Halifax (34='-45°) and 100 
miles inland ; by its second charter 
(1609) it was extended westward to 
the Pacific. 

The charters of Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, and Georgia made the 
Pacific the western boundary of 
these colonies. 

By the Treaty of 1763 (see page 
123 and map facing page 170) the 
Mississippi was made the western 
boundary of the British posses- 
sions south of Canada. 



51 



52 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1619 

The colony now consisted of eleven plantations, or towns,^ 
later called boroughs. Each of these boroughs was invited to 
send two representatives or burgesses. They met in the church 
at Jamestown, Friday, July 30, 16 19. This House of Burgesses 
was the first lawmaking assembly that ever came together in 
America. 

At last the colonists had practically obtained the right of 
managing their own affairs. Spain would not grant that power 
to her colonists in St. Augustine or elsewhere, France would not 
grant it to Quebec or to her other settlements. England gave 
that privilege — the greatest she could give — to her colonists 
in the New World. Later, the right was restricted, but it was 
never wholly taken away. When the American Revolution be- 
gan we find that Washington, Jefferson, Lee, Patrick Henry, and 
many other eminent men were active members of the Legislature 
of Virginia. 

But though the men could riow discuss politics and make laws, 
many of them had no proper homes, for but few unmarried women 
had emigrated to Virginia. To remedy this serious deficiency, the 
London Company sent out a goodly number of young women. 
The cost of the passage for each was fixed at 1 20 pounds of the 
best tobacco. 

When the long-looked-for ship arrived, the young unmarried 
men were waiting at the wharf, and those who had their tobacco 
ready soon managed to get wives in exchange. The brides liked 
the country so well that they wrote back to England, and persuaded 
more maids to come over and take pity on the forlorn bachelors in 
the American wilderness. 

52. Introduction of Negro Slavery, 1619 ; White ** Appren- 
tices" or "Servants." In the records of this same remarkable 
year of 16 19 we read: ''About the last of August came in a 

1 No counties had then been laid out in Virginia. Later, when counties were organized, 
nearly all the representatives were sent from them. This made the Virginia system of gov- 
ernment far less democratic than that of Massachusetts (settled later), for in Massachusetts 
all public affairs were at first decided by the whole body of voters, and not by a selected 
number of persons representing them. When the population of Massachusetts became too 
large for this, the towns, instead of the counties, sent representatives to the Legislature. 



1019] 



THE FIRST SLAVES 



53 



Dutch man-of-war that sold us 20 Negars." This was the begin- 
ning of African slavery in the English colonies of America. 

At that time every leading nation of western Europe traded 
in negroes. No one then condemned the traffic, for no man's 
conscience was troubled by it, and at a much later period the 
King of England derived a large income from selling slaves in 
America. The system gradually spread over the country, and a 
little more than a hundred and fifty years later (1776). every one 
of the thirteen American colonies held slaves. 
At the North the negroes were mostly 
house servants, and were not very numer- 
ous ; but at the South they 
were employed chiefly in 
the fields. Many of the 
wisest and best men did 
not then see how to- 
bacco, rice, and cotton 
could be raised without 
slave labor. 

Still, for a long time the 
increase of negro slaves in 
Virginia was very slow, for 
many white people were 
sent over from England 
to be bound out as "ap- 
prentices" or "servants" to planters for a certain number of years. 
These apprentices came from different classes : 

1 . Some of them were enterprising young men who wanted to 
get a start in America, but, having no money to pay their passage, 
bound themselves to work for the London Company, provided they 
would bring them over. 

2. Some were poor children, picked up in the streets of London 
and sent over to Virginia to get homes. 

3. Others were young men who were kidnaped at night by 
gangs of scoundrels who shipped them off as "servants" to 
America. 




The First Negro Slaves brought 
TO Virginia 



54 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1619-1624 

4. At a later date, when wars and insurrections broke out in 
England, many prisoners taken in battle weie sent over here and 
sold to planters. 

5. Finally, the King sent some convicts to Virginia. Again, 
English judges opened the jails from time to time and sent over 
batches of criminals, some of whom had done nothing worse, per- 
haps, than steal a loaf of bread to keep from starving. 

Thus, many elements contributed to build up the new common 
wealth. In this respect Virginia resembled the '' made land " of 
some of our cities. There is good material in it, and there is some 
not so good ; but in time it all helps to make the solid foundation 
of stately streets and broad avenues. 

While the South was thus growing, Dutch and English emi- 
grants had settled at the North. The former established them- 
selves in what is now New York ; the latter, a little later, founded 
Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

53. Virginia becomes a Royal Province; Governor Berkeley; 
the Puritans and the Cavaliers. After a time King James I took 
away the Company's charter (1624). In future the colony was to 
be governed by the King as a royal province ; but the Assembly 
or Legislature (§51) was not prohibited, and the people continued 
to make their own laws to a considerable extent. 

The next king, Charles I, sent over Sir William Berkeley as 
governor. The new governor had small faith in government by 
the people, in education of the people, ^ or in any religion but that 
of the Church of England. 

The majority of the well-to-do colonists and of the rich tobacco 
planters agreed with the Governor. They thought it was better not 
to give the privileges of education and the right to vote and to hold 
office to everybody who asked for them, but to grant them only to 
persons of property and standing. 

But at that time there was a strong party in England who 
called themselves Puritans, because they insisted on purifying, 

1 Speaking of the colony in 1671, Governor Berkeley said, "I thank God there are no 
free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have them these hundred years." His 
reason was that he thought common-school education would make the mass of the people 
discontented and rebellious against authority ; but he subscribed toward a college. 



1624-iGGO] THE NAVIGATION LAWS 55 

as they said, the national Episcopal Church from some of its cere- 
monies and methods to which they conscientiously objected. The 
Puritans were opposed to King Charles, because he attempted to 
rule the country contrary to law. 

Finally, civil war broke out in England. On one side the King 
had an army made up of Royalists, or Cavaliers ; the army on the 
other side was made up of Puritans. Many of the Puritans had 
now left the national Church. They called themselves Separatists, 
or Independents, and set up a form of worship of their own. 

The war went against the King. He was taken captive and 
beheaded. The Puritans then declared England a republic under 
Oliver Cromwell, and Governor Berkeley of Virginia, who was a 
stiff Royalist, retired from office. Most of the leading Cavaliers, or 
Royalists, were men of rank, and before the war had been men of 
property. They found the new order of things in England very 
uncomfortable, and hundreds of them emigrated to Virginia. 

Some of the most illustrious names in Virginia history are 
those of Cavalier emigrants or their descendants. Richard Henry 
Lee was one,. and Washington was probably another.^ When the 
American Revolution broke out, these illustrious men gave their 
strength, heart and soul, to the establishment of the United States 
of America. 

54. Governor Berkeley again in Power ; the Navigation Laws ; 
the King gives away Virginia. When monarchy was restored in 
England (1660), Sir William Berkeley put on the Governor's silk 
robe of office again. For sixteen years he, with an Assembly that 
was in sympathy with him, ruled the colony according to his own 
imperious will. During that long period no new elections were 
held, and consequently the mass of the people had no voice in 
the government. 

This grievance was not all. During Cromwell's time certain 
laws, called Navigation Laws, had been enacted in order to pre- 
vent the Dutch from competing with England in trade by sea. 

1 On the genealogy of the Washington family in England, see W. C. Ford's " The Writ- 
ings of Washington," XIV, 319. There is a strong probability that George Washington's 
ancestors belonged to the Cavalier party which fought for the King. 



56 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1660-1676 

These laws were not intended to injure the American colonists, 
but they forbade the colonists to send any tobacco out of the coun- 
try except in English or colonial vessels going to England, or to 
purchase any foreign goods except those brought over in English 
or colonial vessels. 

Under King Charles II these laws were made much more strict 
(1 660- 1 67 2). However, they were not really as unfair as they 
seemed (§ 146). But the Virginia planters complained bitterly of 
them, and they soon found means of doing pretty much as they 
pleased about obeying them. 

Some years later (1673) Charles, who was a wasteful and profli- 
gate monarch, gave away the whole of Virginia — a territory then 
having a population of 40,000 — for thirty-one years, to the Eaii of 
Arlington and Lord Culpepper, two of his favorites. This caused 
a long and bitter dispute about the question of the true ownership 
of the land, but it was finally settled in favor of the colonists. 

Meanwhile, English emigrants, both Pilgrims and Puritans, as 
we shall presently see, had established flourishing colonies in New 
England ; the Dutch, who had taken possession of New Nether- 
land (or New York), had been forced to give up that region 
to the English, and English Quakers had bought New Jersey. In 
the South, English Catholics had settled in Maryland, and colo- 
nies of Englishmen had been founded in the Carolinas. Thus 
(1675) an English-speaking population practically held control of 
the whole Atlantic coast of America from Maine nearly to the 
borders of Florida. 

55. Deplorable State of the Virginia Colonists; Indian War; 
the Bacon Rebellion. The people of Virginia were now in a de- 
plorable state. They had no homes that they could certainly call 
their own ; they had no Assembly that really represented them 
(§51), they were heavily taxed, and sometimes they could get but 
little for the tobacco they exported. Still their lives were safe, 
and while life was left, hope was left. But the Indians suddenly 
rose (1676), as they had just done in New England, and began 
massacring the inhabitants. It was not the first attack, but, in 
some respects, the most terrible. 



1676] 



BACON'S REBELLION 



57 



^\\\\u^.i 



The people begged Governor Berkeley's help, but he did noth- 
ing. Then Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy planter, raised a force 
and went out to fight the Indians. His influence finally com- 
pelled Governor Berkeley to allow the people to elect a new 
Assembly. 

They did so, chose Bacon for one of their representatives, 
and passed a number of reform measures known as the " Bacon 
Laws." But as Bacon dis- 
trusted the Governor, civil 
war soon broke out, and the 
" Virginia rebel," as he was 
called by those in authority, 
marched on Jamestown. Seiz- 
ing a number of the wives 
of the Governor's friends, he 
placed them in front of his 
troops. This '' White Apron 
Brigade " saved him from the 
fire of the Governor's guns. 
That night Jamestown was 
abandoned. In the morning 
Bacon entered it, and burned 
the place to the ground. It 
was never rebuilt. As you go 
up the James River to-day 
you see the ruined tower of 
the old brick church stand- 
ing a melancholy memorial of the first English town settled 
in America. 

Bacon soon after died ; but one of his chief supporters, named 
Drummond, fell into the Governor's hands. " Mr. Drummond," 
said the Governor, " I am more glad to see you than any man in 
Virginia. Mr. Dmmmond, you shall be hanged in half an hour." 
He was executed forthwith. In all. Governor Berkeley put to 
death over twenty persons. When the King of England heard 
of it, he exclaimed, in an outburst of anger, ' ' That old fool has 




Ruins at Jamestown 



\j 



58 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1676 

hung more men in that naked country than I did here for the 
murder of my father." ^ 

The Virginia colonists never wholly forgot the meaning of 
the Bacon rebellion, and its protest against tyrannical govern- 
ment. Just a century after the people's Assembly passed the 
famous '' Bacon Laws " (1676) their descendants met at Williams- 
burg, nearly in sight of the ruins of Jamestown, and there (1776) 
declared themselves independent of Great Britain. 

56. Summary. Jamestown, the first town built by the first per- 
manent English colony in the New World, was founded in 1607. 
There the first American legislative assembly met in 16 19. Negro 
slaves were introduced the same year. The cultivation of tobacco 
built up commerce and largely increased the population, but did 
not favor the growth of towns. The colony was strongly Royalist, 
and received many Cavaliers from England. Later, the Naviga- 
tion Laws injured its prosperity. There was a period of bad gov- 
ernment, and Bacon attempted reform. His undertaking failed. 
But the people remembered the man and his work, and Virginia 
a hundred years later (1776) was the first colony to propose the 
establishment of American independence. 

II. New Netherland, or New York (1614) 

57. Henry Hudson's Expedition. In the seventeenth century 
(1609) the Dutch East India Company of Holland sent Henry 
Hudson, an English sea captain, across the Atlantic to explore. 
They hoped that he would find a passage by water through or 
round America to China and the Indies (§§ 14, 16, 25, 44, 47). 

Hudson, with his Dutch crew, entered what is now New York 
Bay, and was the first Englishman who sailed up that noble river 
which to-day bears his name. He reached a point about i 50 miles 
from the mouth of the river, at or near where Albany now stands. 
It was the month of September, and Hudson had good reason for 
saying, '' It is as beautiful a land as one can tread upon." 

1 King Charles II had tried and executed only six out of the fifty-nine judges who had 
sentenced his father (Charles I) to death (§ 53). 



1613-1626] NEW NETHERLAND 59 

About a month before, Champlain (§ 48) had come almost as 
far south as that, on an exploring expedition from Quebec. He 
gave his own name to the lake, known ever since as Lake Cham- 
plain, and claimed the country for France. 

58. The Indians give Hudson a Reception on Manhattan Island ; 
the Strange Drink. The Indians thought that the English cap- 
tain, in his bright red coat trimmed with gold lace, must have 
come down from the skies to visit them. The Captain handed 
the chief a glass of brandy. Soon every red man present had 
tried the new and strange drink. Hudson meant the gift in no 
unkindly spirit, but to the natives it was simply poison. For 
them alcohol had a fatal fascination. Since then hquor has prob- 
ably destroyed more Indians than war and disease combined. The 
Indians were afraid of the white man's gun ; it would have been 
far better for them if they had been still more afraid of the white 
man's drink. 

59. The Dutch take Possession of New Netherland; Jealousy 
of England and France. The Dutch, finding from Hudson's 
report that valuable furs could be bought of the Indians at enor- 
mous profit, soon sent over ships and opened trade with the 
natives (161 3). Then (16 14) the Republic of the United Nether- 
lands, or Holland, took possession of the country on the Hudson 
River, and gave it the name of New Netherland. 

Both the English and the French now had good reason for 
turning jealous eyes on New Netherland, for that province was 
like a wedge. It separated the colony of Virginia from the un- 
settled region of New England, and the point of it at the north 
entered that territory which Champlain claimed as part of New 
France (§48). A number of years later (1623) the Dutch made 
that wedge more dangerous still by building Fort Orange on the 
upper Hudson where the city of Albany now stands. 

60. The Dutch buy Manhattan Island, 1626. In 1626 the 
Dutch West India Company sent out a colony under Governor 
Peter Minuit to settle in New Netherland. He landed with his 
emigrants on the island of Manhattan, where a Dutch trading post 
already existed (161 3). The Governor bought from the Indians the 



6o 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1626- 



entire island of 14,000 acres for twenty-four dollars' worth of 
scarlet cloth, brass buttons, and other trinkets, or at the rate of 
about one sixth of a cent an acre.^ The city of New York, which 
now occupies that land (with additional territory), is valued at many 
thousand millions,^ and the value steadily increases. 

The new settlement consisted of a fort, a stone warehouse, and 
a cluster of log huts. This was the beginning of the greatest and 

richest city of Amer- 
ica. The Dutch called 
the place by its In- 
dian name of Man- 
hattan, but later gave 
it the name of New 
Amsterdam. 

61. The Patroons. 
In order to get emi- 
grants to go out to 
New Netherland, the 
government in Hol- 

GOVERNOR MiNUIT BUYS MANHATTAN ISLAND ° . . 

land made very gen- 
erous offers. They promised to give a large amount of land on the 
Hudson River to any member of the Dutch West India Company 
who would take or send out fifty settlers. 

The proprietor of such an estate received the honorary title 
of '' Patroon," or protector. If he located on one bank only of 
the river, he was to have sixteen miles of water front ; if on 
both banks, he was to have eight miles on each. Inland he 
might extend his settlement as far as he could occupy the soil 
to advantage. In all cases he was to purchase the land of the 
Indians. . ^t ^ ^ 

"Amsterdam, Nov. 5, 1626. 

1 " High and Mighty Lords : Yesterday, arrived here the ship ' The Arms of Amster- 
dam,' which sailed from New Netherland ... on the 23d of Sept. They report that our 
people are in good heart and live in peace there. , . . They have purchased the island of 
Manhattan from the Indians for the value of 60 guilders [^24.00]. . . . 

" Herewith, High and Mighty Lords, be commended to the mercy of the Almighty. 
"Your High Mightinesses' obedient, 

"P. SCHAGEN." 

3 The assessed value of the real estate in 1909 was nearly $7,000,000,000. 




1626-] 



THE PATROONS 



6i 



The Patroon who began a settlement agreed to do three things : 

1 . To pay the expenses of the emigrant's passage from Holland. 

2. To stock a farm for him on his estate with horses, cattle, and 
all necessary agricultural implements, at a small 
rent, and free from taxes. 

3. To provide a schoolmaster and a minister 
of the gospel. 

In return, the emigrant bound himself in many 
ways, of which the three following were the prin- 
cipal ones. 

He agreed : 

1 . To cultivate the Patroon 's land for ten years, 
and not to leave it without permission. 

2. To give the Patroon the first opportunity to 
buy any grain or other produce he might have 
to sell. 

3. To bring all disputes about property and 
rights to the Patroon 's court, of which the Pa- 
troon himself was judge. ^ 

A patroon named Van Rensselaer^ took an 
estate of 700,000 acres in the vicinity of Albany. 
It extended along both banks of the Hudson 
for twenty-four miles and reached back twice that 
distance. He made additions to this enormous 
property, so that eventually it embraced the three 
present counties of Albany, Rensselaer, and Co- 
lumbia. The total area of his vast domain was 
greater than that of the state of Rhode Island. 

Such a proprietor was richer than many S. Ger- 
man prince. He was at once owner, ruler, and judge. He not 
only had a population of white settlers who were his servants 

1 In cases involving more than ^20.00 value the settler might appeal from the Patroon's 
court to the Company. Other points were these : (i) the settler agreed to bring his grain to 
the Patroon's mill, and pay for the grinding ; (2) he could not fish or hunt on the Patroon's 
estate ; (3) he was not to weave any cloth, but buy that imported from Holland ; (4) if he 
died without leaving a will, all of his property fell to the Patroon. 

2 Besides the Van Rensselaers, other noted families dating from that period are the 
Schuylers, Van Cortlandts, and Roosevelts. 



Land held by 

KiLIAEN VAN 

Rensselaer 



62 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1647 

and laborers, but he had the promise from the Dutch West India 
Company of as many negro slaves as they could '' conveniently 
provide " him. There was no one to contradict the Patroon's will. 
He was actually '' monarch of all he surveyed." 

62. Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Governor of New Nether- 
land. Peter Stuyvesant came out to New Amsterdam (1647) as 
fourth and last governor of the province. Governor Stuyvesant 
was an old soldier who had lost a leg in the service of his coun- 
try. He was hot-tempered and headstrong; but he was honest, 
fearless, and determined to keep order in the colony at any cost. 
If a man was disorderly, a constable took pains to show him the 

shortest road to the public whip- 
ping post ; if he was a robber or 
murderer, he was marched straight 
to the gallows. 

The inhabitants complained of 
the taxes, and wished to have a 
word to say about how the money 
should be raised and spent. The 
Governor strenuously objected, but 
finally agreed that a council of 
"Nine Men" should be elected to 
Peter Stuyvesant assist him in that matter. 

Later, when the people de- 
manded the right of electing their own officers, he emphatically 
refused. If, said he, citizens once get the liberty to elect whom 
they please, " the thief will vote for a thief and the smuggler for 
a smuggler." 

The Governor was equally decided in rejecting liberty of wor- 
ship. He fined a minister ^500 for venturing to preach doctrines 
different from those of the Dutch Protestant Church ; next he 
fined those who went to hear him ^100 each. This made free 
thought expensive. 

When some Quakers came into the colony and began to pro- 
claim their peculiar doctrines (§ 85), Stuyvesant punished them 
cruelly. 




1647-16G4] 



GOVERNOR STUYVESANT 



63 



The authorities in Holland rebuked him, and ordered that every 
man should be permitted to worship God in his own house in his 
own way ; but the Governor did as he liked. 

Still, in many ways Peter Stuyvesant showed himself a good 
mler. He made numerous improvements in the " city " of New 
Amsterdam, and in order to better defend the place, he built a 
high and strong fence across the north of the town. That fence, 
or palisade, marked the beginning of Wall Street, which is to-day 
the great money center of America. 

The population of the town was made up of Dutch, French, 
and English. On this account the laws had to be published in 
three languages. Even then New Amsterdam was beginning to 
represent all nationalities. The Dutch pre- 
dicted that the time would come when its 
" ships would ride on every sea." To- 
day the miles of wharves on the East 
and North rivers, lined with great ocean 
steamers and vessels hailing from all the 
ports of the globe, show how far their 
judgment was correct. 

But the Dutch did not keep posses- 
sion of New Netherland. The English 
king, Charles H, claimed the whole coun- 
try on the ground that John Cabot had discovered the coast 
(§ 14) and planted the English flag on it in 1497. For this 
reason Charles now gave it to his brother James, Duke of York. 
England and Holland were at peace ; but suddenly ( 1 664) a 
British fleet sailed up to New Amsterdam and demanded its 
surrender. 

Governor Stuyvesant was furious. He swore that he would 
never surrender '* as long as he had a leg to stand on or an arm 
to fight with"; but, finding that the citizens refused to uphold 
him, he had to submit. The English promised full protection of 
life, liberty, and property to the inhabitants. Furthermore, they 
agreed to grant religious liberty, freedom of trade, and to allow 
the people to have a voice in making the laws. 




New Amsterdam 



64 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1G17 



The result was that the Dutch flag on the fort was hauled 
down, and the English hoisted their flag in its place. Then, in 
honor of James, Duke of York, the name New Netherland was 
dropped, and the country was called the province of New York. 
In like manner the quiet Dutch " city " of New 
Amsterdam became "his majesty's town of 
New York." i 

Ex-Governor Stuyvesant went back to Hol- 
land, but soon returned to spend the rest of 
his days on his '' great bowery," or farm, which 
was on the east side of the island, just out- 
side the city limits. The street now called 
The Bowery recalls the '' Bowery 



Lane " which once led to the stern 
old soldier's home. 

63. Summary. While en- 
deavoring to find a way either 
round or through North Amer- 
ica to China and the Indies, 
Henry Hudson (1609) sailed up 
the river named for him. The 
Dutch claimed the country axid 
called it New Netherland ; they 
founded the city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Later 
(1664), England took possession of the country and named it New 
York, in honor of James, Duke of York, the King's brother. 




Hoisting the English Flag over 
New York 



III. New Jersey (161 7) 

64. The Dutch claim the Country between the Hudson and the 
Delaware; New Jersey. The Dutch crossed over from Manhat- 
tan Island (§ 60), and built a fort at Bergen, on the west bank 
of the Hudson. Later, they built a second fort nearly opposite 



1 In 1673 New York was captured by the Dutch during war between Holland and Eng- 
land, but was given up to the English again when peace was made, less than a year later 
From that time until the Revolution it remained subject to England. 



1074" 



NEW JERSEY 



65 



i^ 




where Philadelphia now stands. They claimed the country between 
these forts as part of New Netherland (§ 59). 

But the English declared that the country belonged to them 
(§§14, 62). The Duke of York, when he came into posses- 
sion of New Netherland, gave the whole territory between the 
Delaware River and the Hudson to his friends Lord Berkeley 
and Sir George Carteret. Sir George had been governor of the 
island of Jersey in the English Channel. During the civil war 
in England (§ 53) he gallantly 
defended that island in be- 
half of Charles I, the Duke of 
York's father. For this rea- 
son the Duke named the coun- 
try which he granted to him 
and to Lord Berkeley, New 
Jersey. An English settle- 
ment was made (1664) at 
a place which the emigrants 
called Elizabethtown, in honor 
of Lady Elizabeth Carteret, 
wife of Sir George. 

The proprietors of the prov- 
ince granted the settlers very 
liberal terms, and the peo- 
ple had a direct part in the 
government. 

65. The Friends, or Quak- 
ers, buy New Jersey ; Treaty 
with the Indians ; Prosperity 
of the Country ; New Jersey becomes a Royal Colony. Some Eng- 
lish Friends, or Quakers, bought Lord Berkeley's share, or West 
Jersey (1674), and later, William Penn and other members of the 
Society of Friends bought the other half, or East Jersey, from 
the heirs of Sir George Carteret. 

The Friends made a treaty with the Indians at Burlington 
which entirely satisfied the savages. After that if they found an 




He is an Englishman; he is asleep; 
LET HIM Alone" 



66 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1620 

Englishman sleeping in the path, they would not molest him, but 
would say, ''He is an Englishman ; he is asleep ; let him alone." 
In the same spirit of good will the Friends granted self-government 
to the colonists. The people levied their own taxes, made their own 
laws, and all settlers enjoyed religious liberty. 

But eventually trouble arose about titles to land, and the pro- 
prietors thought it best (1702) to put the two colonies directly into 
the hands of the English government. They were united under the 
jurisdiction of the governor of New York ; but later (1738), New 
Jersey became a separate province. From this time until the Revo- 
lution it was ruled by a governor of its own appointed by the 
King of England. The last of the royal governors was William 
Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin. 

66. Summary. The Dutch first claimed possession of what is 
now New Jersey. The English Duke of York seized the country 
and gave it to two of his friends, naming the province from the 
British island of Jersey. 

A company of English Quakers then bought the land, grant- 
ing to the settlers most of the privileges of self-government. 
The Quaker proprietors surrendered their rights to the English 
sovereign (1702), and New Jersey became a royal colony until 
the Revolution. 



IV. Massachusetts (Plymouth Colony, 1620) 

67. Former Lack of Religious Liberty in England; Catho- 
lics; Puritans; Separatists. When the English began to make 
permanent settlements in America in 1607 (§46), no country 
in Europe had that freedom of worship which every civilized 
nation enjoys to-day. In England the law required every one 
to attend the Church of England upheld by the government, and 
compelled all persons to pay taxes to support that church, which 
maintained the Protestant Episcopal form of worship. 

Three classes of good and loyal citizens objected to that law : 
I. The Catholics, who protested against being obliged to pay 
for maintaining preaching which they did not believe in. 



1620] 



PURITANS AND SEPARATISTS 



67 



2. The Puritans (§ 53), who thoroughly beheved in the doctrines 
of the Church of England, but decidedly objected to some of its 
ceremonies. 

3. The Separatists, who, like the Puritans, accepted the religious 
teachings of the Church of England, but who had withdrawn from 
it because they did not like its form of worship, and had set up 
independent congregations of their own. 

68. Emigration of those who sought Religious Liberty ; the 
Separatists go to Holland. Not being able to obtain the freedom 




rr^^X~\ >' London 



i> 



Amsterdarf^ >f \ ^^ 

[Yarmouth Leydeii^ ^^""S^ T j 

.■J 



V 



BELGIUM 



-J-o ^- Southampton 






FPlynjuuth^ 



)6rchest,er 



E N G I 



isn 



H^ 



FRANCE 



Jv_^ 



! \ 



Homes of the Pilgrims in England and Holland 



they desired in England, many emigrants, representing the Cath- 
olics, the Puritans, and the Separatists, came to America. Here 
they hoped that they might be able to worship God without moles- 
tation, according to the dictates of their consciences. 

The first who thus emigrated were the Separatists. A con- 
gregation of these people held religious services in the little 
English village of Scrooby. (See map.) They found that they 



68 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1620 

could have no peace, but were "hunted," "persecuted," and 
" clapped up in prison." For this reason they fled to Holland 
(1607), where, they had heard, there "was freedom of religion 
for all men." 

69. The Separatists, or Pilgrims, resolve to go to America; 
their Reasons. At length a part of the Separatists, or Pilgrims, ^ 
as they now with good reasons called themselves, — for they had 
no fixed home, — resolved to emigrate to America. 

Three chief reasons induced the Pilgrims to leave Holland : 

1. Though they were with a friendly people, yet they were 
among those whose language and customs were not English. 

2. As their children grew up, they would naturally marry into 
the Dutch families, so that in a few generations their descendants 
would become Dutch. 

3. Finally, they desired to build up a community on soil belong- 
ing to England, where they and those who came after them might 
enjoy both political and religious liberty, according to the Pilgrim 
standard of what was just and right. 

70. Where they proposed going; how they got Assistance to 
go. The only English settlement then in America was that at 
Jamestown, Virginia (§ 46). The Pilgrims could not go to that 
part of the country, for no worship but that of the Church of Eng- 
land was permitted there. They finally obtained from the London 
Company (§§43, 45) the right to settle at some place near, the 
Hudson River. 

A company of English merchants and speculators agreed to 
help them on these hard conditions : 

1 . The Pilgrims were to work for seven years without a single 
day to themselves except Sunday. 

2. At the end of that time all the property they had accumu- 
lated was to be divided equally between them and the company 
of merchants. 

1 " So they left that goodly and pleasant city [Leyden, Holland (Map, p. 67)] which had 
been their resting place near twelve years; but they knew they were PILGRIMS [see He- 
brews xi. 13] and looked not much on those things ; but lifted up their eyes to the heavens^ 
their dearest country, and quieted their spirits." — Bradford's H'r<;1ory of Plymouth, 
1607-1646. Bradford's MS. is preserved in the State Library in the Statehouse, Boston. 



1620] THE PILGRIMS GO TO AMERICA 69 

71. The Pilgrims sail; Myles Standish. The Pilgrims went 
over from Holland to England, and in the autumn of 1620 the 
Mayfloiver sailed from Plymouth, carrying the second English 
colony that was to make a permanent home in the New World. 
(§ 46). There were only 102 of the emigrants, and of these less 
than ninety could be called Pilgrims. The others were persons 
who had joined them, or were servants or sailors. 

Among those who were not members of the Pilgrim congrega- 
tion, but who chose to go with them, was Captain Myles Standish. 
He was a man with the heart of a lion in battle, and the hand of 
a woman for the sick and wounded. Without his counsel and his 
sword it is doubtful if the colony could have succeeded. 

72. The Pilgrims reach Cape Cod; the Compact. On a morn- 
ing late in November (1620) the storm-tossed Pilgrims sighted 
Cape Cod. They tried to go south of it, in order to reach the 
vicinity of the Hudson River (§ 70), but the weather was against 
them. Two days later (November 21), the Mayflower came to 
anchor in what is now Provincetown harbor, at the extreme end 
of the Cape. 

The Pilgrims had no authority to settle in New England, but 
they decided to do so. Some of their hired men now declared 
that they were free and would do what they pleased. Hearing that 
threat, the Pilgrims gathered in the cabin of the Mayflower and 
drew up and signed a compact or agreement. In that compact 
they declared themselves '' loyal subjects " of the King. At the 
same time they declared that they were resolved to make what- 
ever laws might be needful for the '* general good of the colony." 
They then elected John Carver for their first governor. Thus the 
new commonwealth began ; they were but a few score people, but 
they had the strength that belongs to those who fear God and 
respect themselves. 

73. They explore the Coast, and land; Plymouth Rock; the 
First Winter. While the Mayflower remained at anchor Captain 
Standish with a boat load of men went out to explore. On Decem- 
ber 21 they reached the harbor which Captain John Smith had 
called Plymouth on a map which he made when in Virginia (§48). 



70 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1620-I62i 



On the shore of that harbor lies a part of a granite bowlder. It is 
said to be the only one directly on the water's edge for several 
miles. According to tradition they landed on that bowlder. It 
• is only a few feet square, but Plymouth Rock fills a greater place 
in the history of our country than any other single stone on the 
American continent. 

A few days later, the Mayflower sailed into that harbor ; the 
men all went ashore and began the work of building a log hut 

for general use. Later, they 
erected another cabin, but it 
had to be used for a hospital 
instead of a settler's home. 
The hardships of that winter 
were so great that by spring 
nearly half of the colony were 
in their graves. But when the 
Mayflower went back, in April 
(1621), not one of the Pilgrims 
returned in her. They had come 
to stay. 

74. Governor Bradford; Town Meeting; a Treaty made with 
the Indians. Soon after the Mayflower sailed. Governor Carver 
(§ 72) died and was succeeded by William Bradford (162 1). 

The Pilgrims decided all important questions in town meet- 
ing. There they made the laws. It was pure government by the 
people. 

But the Pilgrims did more than simply make laws, for they en- 
forced them. The man who resisted was speedily tied neck and 
heels together on the ground and left there for a reasonable time 
to meditate on the error of his ways. 

Not long before his death Governor Carver had made a treaty 
with Massasoit, chief of a neighboring tribe of Indians in the south- 
west. The treaty was faithfully kept for more than fifty years. 

Later, Canonicus, chief of a tribe of hostile Indians, threatened 
to attack Plymouth. He sent Governor Bradford a declaration of 
war in the shape of a bundle of arrows tied round with a rattlesnake 




Plymouth Rock 



1626-1630] WHAT MADE THE PILGRIMS GREAT 



71 



skin. The Governor took the snake skin, stuffed it full of powder 
and bullets, and sent it back. Canonicus looked at it, felt of it, and 
then said, '* We had better let the Governor alone." When trouble 
with the Indians did arise later, Myles Standish (§71) soon made 
them confess that though '' he was a 
little man, he was a great captain." 

75. The Pilgrims buy out the Eng- 
lish Company; what made the Pil- 
grims Great. After some years had 
passed, the Pilgrims bought out the 
English merchants' shares in Plym- 
outh colony (1626). In order to do it, 
they had to borrow the money in Lon- 
don at from thirty to fifty per cent 
interest, but they were determined to 
be free of the Company at any cost. 
Henceforth every man had a right 
to whatever he could gain for himself 
by fishing, fur trading, or farming. 

The colony increased slowly. At 
the end of ten years there were only 
300 people in Plymouth. Massachu- 
setts colony, founded ten years later 
(1630), overshadowed and finally ab- 
sorbed it. 

It was not what the Pilgrim Fa- 
thers actually accomplished which 
made them great : it was the spirit 
in which they worked. There is one 
thing m this world that is better than success — that is, to deserve 
success. They had gained that ; as their brethren wrote them 
from England : '' Let it not be grievous to you that you have 
been instrumental to break the ice for others. TAe honor shall 
be yours to the world's end.'' 




Monument to Captain Myles 
Standish on "Captain's 
Hill," Duxbury, Plym- 
outh Bay 



72 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1630 

IV. Massachusetts (Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630) 

76. Settlement of Salem; Governor Endicott; Toleration.. A 

number of years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, the Mas- 
sachusetts Bay Company ^ in England sent out John Endicott to 
take charge of a small colony at Salem (1628). 

Governor Endicott was a strict Puritan (§§ 53, 6"]). He lived 
in an age when the toleration of religi^ous liberty was unknown in 
Great Britain. If he had found '' toleration " in his dictionary, he 
would have cut the word out, just as he drew his sword and cut 
the red cross out of the English flag because it represented the 
ancient Catholic faith of England. 

77. The Great Puritan Emigration; Winthrop's Colony; Set- 
tlement of Boston, 1630. But the great emigration to New Eng- 
land began in 1630. The royal charter gave the Massachusetts 
Bay Company the territory extending along the coast from the 
Charles River to the Merrimac. Westward it extended, like Vir- 
ginia (§ 43), to the Pacific. 

The Company appointed John Winthrop,^ a wealthy Puritan, 
governor. He came, bringing the charter with him, and a colony 
of over 700 persons with horses and cattle. 

The colonists named the place where they finally settled, Boston, 
because of their affectionate remembrance of the ancient city of 
Boston, England. (Map, p. 6j) 

In the course of the next ten years more than 20,000 of Gov- 
ernor Winthrop's countrymen came to New England. Among them 
were highborn men and women, with graduates of Oxford and 
Cambridge, besides people of property and influence, — '' the very 
flower of the English Puritans." 

1 The Plymouth Company of England which had never succeeded in planting a perma- 
nent colony (§§ 43, 45) was reorganized in 1620 under the name of the Council for New Eng- 
land. In 1627-1628 this Council issued a grant to the Massachusetts Bay Company which 
was confirmed by a royal charter. 

2 Governor Winthrop of Groton, Suffolk County, in the east of England. He came for the 
same reason that Endicott did, because the Puritans, as he said, had " no place to fly unto 
but the wilderness." He also felt that Great Britain needed an outlet for her unemployed 
thousands. "This land" [England], said he, "grows weary of her inhabitants, so as man, 
who is the most precious of all creatures, is here more vile and base than the earth we tread 
upon, and of less price among us than a horse or sheep." — Winthrop's Life and Letters. 



1634] HOW MASSACHUSETTS WAS GOVERNED 73 

78. How Massachusetts was governed ; Town Meetings ; who 
could vote; Occupations of the People. At first all the public 
affairs of the colony were managed by a council. Later (1634), 
the towns sent representatives to the Legislature to make the 
laws. 

In all cases the towns managed their own local business, such 
as the making of roads and the care of schools, in town meeting 
as the Pilgrims at Plymouth did (§ 74). 

Thomas Jeffe.rson of Virginia lamented that his colony did not 
do the same. He said the New England town meetings had 
proved themselves the ''wisest invention ever devised by the wit 
of man for the perfect exercise of self-government." 

We have seen that in Virginia (§§51, 53) the right to vote 
on colonial matters was finally restricted to men of property ; in 
Massachusetts it was confined to members of the Puritan church. 
The Virginians wished to keep the government of their colony in 
the hands of the royalist landholders or responsible citizens ; the 
Puritan commonwealth of Massachusetts wished to keep theirs 
under the control of Puritans. This corner of the continent, said 
they, is ours. If others come to it who want a different religion 
and different kind of government, we give them full liberty — to 
move on. 

Governor Winthrop, like Governor Berkeley of Virginia (§ 5 3), 
wanted a state governed not by the majority, but by a select few. 
'' The best part of a community," said he, '' is always the least, and 
of that part the wiser are still less." 

In Massachusetts much of the soil was poor ; the farms were 
small, and there were no great plantations like those of Virginia. 
A large number of the people were engaged in the cod fisheries 
on the banks of Newfoundland, and many were employed in the 
construction of vessels. Boston had some of the best shipbuilders 
in the world. It had also a thriving commerce with the West 
Indies. The colonists sent out cargoes of staves and lumber, and 
imported quantities of sugar and molasses from which they distilled 
the famous '* New England rum," an article which people then 
believed to be one of the necessaries of life. 



74 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1635 



79. Banishment of Roger Williams and Mrs. Hutchinson. 

The fact that the Puritans considered Massachusetts exclusively 
their own led to the banishment of Roger Williams. He had 
come from England as a minister, and was settled over the 
church in Salem. He was one of the very few men of that day 
who thoroughly believed in religious freedom, or, as he called 
it, "soul liberty." '' No one," said he, ''should be bound to 
maintain a worship against his own consent." To say that, was 

to strike directly at the law 
of Massachusetts, which re- 
quired every man to attend 
public worship and to pay for 
its support. 

Mr. Williams did another 
thing which made serious 
trouble. He vehemently de- 
nied that the King had the 
right to grant the land to 
the Puritan colonists without 
the consent of the Indians 
who owned it. 

The colonists feared that 
what the young Salem min- 
ister said might provoke the 
English sovereign to take 
away their charter and compel 
them to leave Massachusetts. 
For this reason the Governor resolved to arrest him as a dan- 
gerous person and send him back to England. Mr. Williams 
fled (1635) in bitter winter storms through the woods to the 
shores of Narragansett Bay. There he took refuge in Massasoit's 
friendly wigwam (§ 74). The next spring he founded the beautiful 
city of Providence. 

The same year Mrs. Anne Hutchinson of Boston attacked 
many of the Massachusetts clergy about their religious belief, 
which seemed to her more a matter of form than of faith. She 




The Flight of Roger Williams 



1635-1701] PUBLIC SCHOOLS 75 

lectured or preached every week, and her influence finally became 
so great that a company of soldiers that had been raised to fight 
the Indians refused to march because their chaplain did not agree 
with Mrs. Hutchinson ! 

The Legislature decided that Mrs. Hutchinson was as bad as 
Roger Williams, ''or worse," and compelled her to leave the 
colony. Later, the Baptists were forbidden to preach in Massa- 
chusetts and were severely punished when they refused to obey 
the command. These were harsh measures, but the colonists 
believed that it was their duty to maintain their Puritan faith at 
any cost, and they did it. 

80. Public Schools ; Harvard University, 1636 ; First Printing 
Press (1639); Eliot's Work among the Indians. The people of 
the colony were anxious to have their children educated, and 
they established the Boston Free Latin School (1635). It is the 
oldest public school now existing in any state originally settled 
by the English. The Dutch, however, had established (1633) a 
church school in New Amsterdam, which still flourishes. In 
1647 the colonists passed a law which practically provided in- 
struction for every white child in Massachusetts. England had 
never done anything like that. That great work laid the founda- 
tion of the common-school system of the United States. 

Meanwhile, the Legislature voted in 1636 to give ;£400 — or 
what was equal to an entire year's tax of the colony — to found 
a college at Cambridge, near Boston. It is said that ''this was 
the first legislative assembly in which the people, through their 
representatives, ever gave their own money to found a place of 
education." 

Two years later the Rev. John Harvard of Charlestown left his 
library of three hundred and twenty volumes, and half of his estate, 
— or about ;£ 750, — to the college. The Legislature out of grat- 
itude ordered the new institution — the first English college in 
America — to be called by his name : such was the origin of 
Harvard University, 1636. Virginia established William and Mary 
College, the second in America (1693), and Connecticut established 
Yale University, which was the third (1701). 



76 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1643-1750 

The interest felt in Harvard was so universal that at one time 
(1645) every family throughout New England gave either a peck 
of corn or twelvepence in money towards its support. The people 
were poor, but they were determined, as they said, ''that learning 
should not be buried in the graves of their fathers." 

While the people were doing so much for education, the Rev. 
John Eliot of Roxbury, near Boston, was laboring to convert the 
Indians. He translated the Bible into the Indian language and 
printed it, at Cambridge (1660), on the first press set up in 
the American colonies, 1639. When we come to King Philip's 
War (§ 86) we shall see how the colonies reaped the fruit of the 
labors of the ''Apostle to the Indians." 

81. The New England Confederation. In 1643 Massachusetts 
Bay united with Plymouth and with the two western colonies of 
Connecticut and New Haven in a Confederation or league for mutual 
defense (164 3- 16 84). The chief objects of this league were i^ 

1. To protect the colonists against hostile Indians and against 
the Dutch of New Netherland (§ 59), who were trying to get 
possession of the territory between the Hudson and the Con- 
necticut rivers. 

2. To express the sympathy of the colonists with the Puritan 
party in England, which was then engaged in a war against the 
tyrannical King Charles I ^ (§ 53). 

After the Confederation had ceased to exist the remembrance 
of it helped the colonists to unite against the French of Canada, 
who threatened (1750) to drive them out of the land. Still later, 
when trouble with England came, the fact that there had once 
been such an organization as the so-called " United Colonies of 
New England " prepared the way for that great and permanent 
confederation of all the colonies, north and south, known first as 
the " United Colonies of America," and finally as the " United 
States of America." 

1 One object of the Confederation was to secure the return of runaway slaves to their 
masters. 

2 The words " you shall bear true faith and allegiance to our sovereign Lord King 
Charles " were now dropped from the oath required by Massachusetts of its governors and 
chief officeholders. 



1656-] 



THE QUAKERS 



77 



82. The Coming of the Friends, or Quakers. Many years 
after the Puritans had settled Massachusetts the people kept 
a day of fasting and prayer on account of news received from 
England respecting a strange people called Quakers. It was 
said that they were turning the world upside down with their 
preaching, and that if they were not stopped, they would destroy 
all churches and all modes of government. A fortnight after 
that fast day (1656) the inhabitants of Boston heard to their 
horror that two women, who 
were Quaker missionaries, 
had actually landed in their 
town. 

The authorities at once 
thrust them into jail, and as 
soon as possible sent them 
out of the colony. But others 
came, and soon all Massa- 
chusetts was in a fever of 




excitement. 

83. What the Quakers 
believed ; what they refused 
to do. To-day there are no 
quieter, more orderly, or 
more self-respecting people 
than the Friends, or Quak- 
ers. Boston would welcome 
a colony of them now, and 
feel that the city was the 
gainer by their coming. Why did the arrival of a few of them 
then excite such alarm t The reason was that the Quakers 
of that time stood in decided opposition to the ideas of the 
great majority of sober and discreet citizens. When men asked, 
" Where shall we find what is right t " the Church of England 
answered, '*You will find it in the teachings of the Church." 
The Puritans replied, ''You will find it in the Bible." The 
Quakers said, ''You will find it in your own heart." To most 



Seizure of the Quaker Women 



78 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1656- 

persons of that age such an answer seemed like rejecting both 
Church and Bible. 

Next, the Quakers differed from other people in many of their 
customs. They would not use titles of honor or respect to any 
one, and they would not take off their hats to a magistrate or to 
the Governor — no, not even to the King himself. Furthermore, 
the Quakers observed no ceremonies in their worship. 

Finally, acting in accordance with what they believed to be the 
teachings of the gospel, they refused to do three things which 
every citizen then was bound by law to do. 

1. They would not give testimony under oath in a court of 
justice, or swear to support the government. 

2. They would not pay taxes to support any form of public 
worship. 

3. They would not do military service or bear arms even in 
self-defense.i 

84. Excesses committed by some Quakers. But this was not 
all, for the harsh treatment the Quakers had received in Eng- 
land and in Boston had driven some of them well-nigh crazy. 
In several cases they forced their way into Puritan meetings on 
Sunday and cried out that the ministers were hypocrites and de- 
ceivers of the people. 

These things occurred only in Massachusetts. The Quakers in 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania (§§65, 119) never interfered with 
any form of worship, and peace and good order prevailed. In 
fact, no colony in America prospered more than that founded 
by the Quaker, William Penn. 

85. The Puritans punish and execute the Quakers ; End of the 
Persecution. The Puritans were stern men and they took stern 
measures. They arrested the disturbers of their peace, whipped 
some through the towns, cut off the ears of others, and drove 
them out into the wilderness. 

All this severity was useless ; the Quakers felt that they had 
a mission to the Puritans, and they persisted in returning and 

1 The Friends, or Quakers, believe that they should obey conscience, and, dispensing 
with forms, follow literally what they understand to be the commands of Christ. 



1656-1675] 



KING PHILIP'S WAR 



79 



preaching it in the loudest manner. They were nonresistants, 
— they would not strike back when persecuted ; but they would 
use their tongues, and their tongues were like two-edged swords. 
After repeated warnings, the Massachusetts authorities hanged 
four of these missionaries, one a woman, on Boston Common, 
and buried their bodies at the foot of the gallows. 

Finally, the King ordered the Governor of the colony to cease 
punishing the Quakers, and the excitement gradually died out. 

86. King Philip's War. In 1675 Philip, son of Massasoit 
(§ 74), and chief of an Indian tribe of Rhode Island, began a ter- 
rible war against the colonists. While Massasoit lived, the treaty 
he had made with the English 
had been faithfully kept; but 
'^King Philip" believed that 
if the Indians did not kill off 
the white men, then the white 
men would kill off the Indians. 
For this reason the savages 
made a sudden attack on the 
towns of southern and western 
Massachusetts. They did not 
dare attack Boston, but they 
burned more than half the 
towns in the colony. 

After about two years of des- 
perate fighting, Philip's wife, and his only son, a lad of nine, 
were both captured. " Now," said the terrible warrior, '' my heart 
breaks. I am ready to die." Shortly after this Philip was killed 
at his home at Mount Hope, not far from Bristol, Rhode Island. 
His hands were cut off and carried to Boston, and his head was 
carried to Plymouth, where it stood exposed on a pole for twenty 
years. Many of the Indian prisoners were sold as slaves in the 
West Indies. Among them were King Philip's wife and boy. 
During the war Eliot's " praying Indians " (§ 80) saved the lives 
of many colonists. With the death of Philip the Indians realized 
that their power was broken in southern New England. 




King Philip's War 



8o LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1684-1692 

87. The Salem Witchcraft. Some years later (1692) the Salem 
witchcraft caused a reign of terror in that town. In Great Britain 
several thousand unfortunate persons had suffered death for this 
alleged crime, and the English statute punishing it was not re- 
pealed until 1736, or '' more than forty years after the excitement 
in New England had subsided." The whole matter seems to have 
originated with a few mischief-loving children who accused cer- 
tain persons of tormenting them. Those so charged were tried 
for witchcraft, that is, for being in league with evil spirits, and in 
all nineteen persons were hanged. Then the good sense of the 
Massachusetts people asserted itself, and the witchcraft delusion 
came to an end. 

88. Massachusetts loses her Charter; Governor Andros. But 
before this strange outbreak at Salem occurred, Massachusetts 
lost her charter (^77). and was no longer self-governing. For 
many years King Charles II had watched the Puritan colony 
with no friendly eye. It was far too independent to suit his arbi- 
trary ideas. The people of Boston were accused of breaking the 
Navigation Laws (§ 54) by both importing and exporting goods in 
Dutch ships ; they had also coined money without royal authority, 
and had given a warm welcome to two of the judges who had 
sentenced Charles I (§53) to the scaffold and then fled to Mas- 
sachusetts. Furthermore, they were notoriously opposed to the 
Church of England and were believed to be strongly republican 
in their tendencies. 

For these reasons the King took away their charter (1684). 
Massachusetts then became a royal province, and from that time 
until the Revolution it was governed by the King and those whom 
the King sent to represent him. 

The first royal governor imposed on the colony (1686) was Sir 
Edmund Andros, who had been governor of New York. Three 
years of his tyranny produced a revolt. The people took advantage 
of a revolution in England which forced King James II to flee 
the country ; they seized Andros and imprisoned him. They then 
recovered their former power of managing their own affairs in 
their own way, but only for a short time. 



1623] 



SUMMARY 



81 



William III of England sent over a new charter (1691), which 
converted Massachusetts, Plymouth, Maine, and Nova Scotia into 
one province. Henceforth all forms of religion but the Catho- 
lic were permitted, and the right to vote was no longer con- 
fined to church members (§78). But the people had no power 
to make any laws except such 



111 I 



IJ 







^- rt 



as the King approved, and the 
King continued to appoint the 
governor. 

89. Summary. The Separa- 
tists, or Pilgrims, setded Plym- 
outh in 1620, and the Puritans 
settled Boston in 1630. The ob- 
ject sought by both was free- 
dom of worship for themselves. 
To all of their own faith they 
gave a hearty welcome, but they 
regarded others as intruders, and 
the Puritans did not hesitate to 
drive them out. The colonists 

of Massachusetts were the first setders in America who assem- 
bled in town meeting and established government by the people, 
and public schools for all children. The Pilgrims, for more than 
half a century, did not restrict the right to take part in the gov- 
ernment to church members, but the Puritans did. The object 
of both was to build up a strong, free, religious, and intelligent 
commonwealth ; in this they were in great measure successful, but 
eventually (1684) their charter was taken from them and they 
lost the power of making their own laws, and had to accept 
governors appointed by the King. 



Arrest of Governor Andros 



V. New Hampshire (1623) 

90. Grant of Territory to Gorges and Mason; Settlement of 
Dover and Portsmouth. Sir Ferdinando Gorges obtained, with 
Captain John Mason, a grant of the territory between the Merrimac 



82 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1627-1719 

River and the Kennebec. This region was called Maine, or 
the Mainland. 

The first settlement known to be permanent was made at 
Dover, on the Piscataqua River, by English colonists (1627). 
Four years later (163 1) Portsmouth was settled. The chief objects 
of these colonies were to carry on the fur trade with the In- 
dians and to establish fisheries. Most of the inhabitants of the 
two settlements belonged, in name at least, to the Church of 
England. 

91. Division of the Territory; New Hampshire; Vermont; 
Maine; Exeter. After a few years the proprietors. Mason and 
Gorges, decided to divide the territory. Gorges took the part 
east of the Piscataqua, — a region now included in the state of 
Maine ; Mason took that west of the same river. He gave it the 
name of New Hampshire in remembrance of the English county 
of Hampshire which had once been his home. The region west 
of the Connecticut River, later called Vermont, was claimed by 
both New Hampshire and New York. 

Sir George Popham had attempted to found a colony on the 
coast of Maine in 1607, but the undertaking failed. A permanent 
settlement appears to have been made (1625) at Pemaquid Point, 
about midway between the Penobscot and the Kennebec. Portland 
was founded some years later (1632). Massachusetts held control 
of Maine from 1652 to 1820, when it was admitted to the Union. 
The Rev. John Wheelwright was banished from Massachusetts 
^1638) for his openly expressed sympathy with the religious teach- 
ings of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson (§ 79). With several of his con- 
gregation who had followed him into exile he settled the town of 
Exeter, New Hampshire. 

92. Settlement of Londonderry; Union with Massachusetts. 
Many years later (17 19) several hundred thrifty Scotch-Irish emi- 
grants — or Scotch Protestants coming from the north of Ireland 
— settled Londonderry, New Hampshire. They introduced the 
manufacture of linen ; and soon in every log cabin the hum of the 
housewife's little flax wheel made cheerful and profitable music 
for the family. 



1641-1679] 



SUMMARY 



83 



One of the descendants of an industrious Scotch settler of this 
class, but who came at an earlier period, was the eminent orator, 
patriot, and statesman, Daniel Webster.^ 

New Hampshire dreaded Indian hostilities, and having but a 
small and scattered population, petitioned (1641) for union with 
Massachusetts. The petition 
was granted. Furthermore, 
the citizens of New Hamp- 
shire, in accordance with 
their request, were permitted 
to vote and hold office with- 
out first having to prove that 
they were church members, 
as people were obliged to 
do in Massachusetts (§78). 
Finally (1679), New Hamp- 
shire became a royal prov- 
ince and remained so until 
the Revolution. 

93. Summary. New Hamp- 
shire originally formed part 
of the region called Maine, 
or the Mainland. English 

colonists settled Dover and Portsmouth. Emigrants from Massa- 
chusetts and Scotch-Irish later founded the towns of Exeter and 
Londonderry. The Scotch-Irish set up the manufacture of linen. 
Eventually New Hampshire was united with Massachusetts, and 
many years later it became a province governed by the King. 




The Music of the Flax Wheel 



1 Mr. Webster was bom in 1782, in Salisbury, New Hampshire, about fifty miles north- 
west of Portsmouth. He once said, in a public speech : " It did not happen to me to be 
bom in a log cabin ; but my elder brothers and sisters were born in a log cabin, reared amid 
the snowdrifts of New Hampshire at a period so early that when the smoke first rose from 
its rude chimney and curled over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white 
man's habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada." 



84 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1634-1636 



VT. Connecticut (1634) 

94. Emigration to the Valley of the Connecticut; Hooker's 
Colony. The rich lands of the beautiful valley of the Connecti- 
cut River early attracted the Dutch of New Amsterdam (§81) 
and the settlers of Plymouth. Both made an attempt to get a 

foothold on the coveted 
territory. But emigration 
did not begin in earnest 
until later (1635). Then 
a number of settlements 
were made, which finally 
united under one govern- 
ment. We shall now take 
up the history of these 
separate colonies. 

1 . Emigrants from the 
vicinity of Boston (1635) 
founded the towns of 
Wethersfield and Windsor. 

2. In the autumn of 
that year an English 
company sent out John 
Winthrop, son of Gover- 
nor Winthrop of Boston 
{^77)y with the title of 
'' Governor of the River 
of Connecticut." He built 
a fort at Saybrook, at the 

mouth of the river, and thus effectually shut out the Dutch from 
that quarter. 

3. The next June (1636) the Rev. Thomas Hooker of Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts, started with a company of one hundred 
men, women, and children for what was then called " the West." 
They traveled on foot, driving a hundred and sixty head of cattle, 
besides hogs, through the wilderness. There were neither roads 




Hooker's Emigration to Connecticut 



1637-1639] THE PEQUOT WAR 85 

nor bridges, and the emigrants had to find their way by the com- 
pass, crossing rivers on rafts, sleeping under the stars, and Hving 
mainly on the milk of their cows. 

After a journey of two weeks through a country which express 
trains now cross in three hours, they reached Hartford, where a 
small settlement of English had already been made. 

95. The Pequot War. The next spring {1637) the new settlers 
declared war against the Pequot Indians, who threatened to destroy 
the white settlers. The three towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, 
and Windsor contributed ninety men led by Captain John Mason. 
The Pequots had a fortified village near the present town of 
Mystic. The little army of white men, accompanied by Indians 
of tribes hostile to the Pequots, and with some help from Massa- 
chusetts, attacked the enemy in their stronghold. They set fire 
to their wigwams and literally burned them out. The blow was a 
terrible one to the Pequots. From that time they were hunted 
down like wild beasts, until in a few months the tribe was prac- 
tically destroyed. 

96. The Connecticut Constitution, 1639. In 1639 the in- 
habitants of the three towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and 
Windsor met at Hartford and drew up the first written Ameri- 
can constitution,^ or form of government made '* by the people 
for the people." In the words of that document, its object 
was *' to maintain the peace and union " of the settlers of the 
colony. 

One remarkable fact about that compact is that it made no 
mention either of the King of England or of the English Com- 
pany which held a royal grant of the Connecticut lands. It was 
in reality the constitution of a republic, and the men who framed 
it refused to bow to any authority outside or above themselves, 
except that of their Maker. 

1 Constitution : For the same reason that a game of ball cannot be played successfully 
without some rules to govern it, so, whenever a number of people join to form a community 
or a state, they must have some form of agreement or principle of union. Such an agree- 
ment is a constitution of government. Its object is to secure individual liberty on the one 
hand, and order on the other. The advantage of having such an agreement in writing is 
that it can be readily consulted ; and misunderstandings and disputes about its meaning and 
application are less likely to occur than if it was not so preserved. 



86 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1639-1644 

One reason why many of the Connecticut emigrants had left 
Massachusetts was that they did not beUeve in the principle of 
limiting the right of voting to church members (§ 78). The Hart- 
ford constitution imposed no such restriction ; every citizen was 
politically equal with every other, and there was nothing to hinder 
his taking part in making the laws. To-day not only the United 
States but every state in the Union has a written constitution — 
a safeguard of liberty — similar in that respect to the one drafted 
at Hartford in 1639. That, then, may be called the parent of all 
that have followed. 

97. The New Haven Colony ; Scripture Laws. There were now 
two colonies in the territory : first, that at Saybrook (§ 94), and 
next that at Hartford and the other towns settled by bands of emi- 
grants who had come into the Connecticut valley. Now a third 
colony, that of New Haven, was founded (1638). It was made up 
chiefly of people who had arrived at Boston from London the year 
before. One of its leading men was the Rev. John Davenport, a 
Puritan minister. The spring after they formed the settlement 
(1639) all the colonists met in a large barn to listen to a sermon 
from Mr. Davenport and draw up rules for the government of the 
new community. What those rules were we can guess from the 
old verse which tells us how 

" They in Newman's barn laid down 
Scripture foundations for the town." 

Those ** Scripture foundations," a few years later, made the 
severe Jewish laws of the Old Testament ^ those of New Haven. 
None could vote or hold any public office but members of the 
church. It was practically the same kind of government as that 
of Massachusetts (§ 78). 

98. The Fugitive Regicides ; Andros and the Connecticut Charter. 
These stern New Haven colonists believed heartily in justice, and 

1 In 1644 " the judicial laws of God, as they were delivered by Moses," were declared to 
be binding. Like the laws of Massachusetts, they inflicted the penalty of death for no less 
than fourteen offenses. They were, however, far more merciful than the laws of England, 
which at a very much later period made upwards of two hundred crimes punishable with 
death — sheep stealing being one. 



1661-1687] THE FUGITIVE REGICIDES 87 

hated royal oppression. Whalley and Goffe, two of the judges 
then known as '' regicides," because, during the Enghsh civil war 
(1649), they had voted to put the tyrannical Charles I to death 
(§ 53), fled to New Haven (1661). 

King Charles II sent orders to arrest them. Davenport con- 
cealed the judges, and preached to his congregation from a pas- 
sage of the Bible (Isaiah xvi. 3-4) containing the words, '' Hide 
the outcasts ; betray not him that wandereth." 

The sermon had the effect intended, and the disappointed officers 
went back without capturing the regicides.^ 

Charles II, who was not unfriendly to the colony, had granted 
to the Connecticut people a charter confirming their right of self- 
government. By that charter the territory was extended westward 
to the Pacific, as in the case of Virginia (§ 43) and Massachusetts 
(^77), though no one then had any idea of the actual width of 
the continent. Saybrook had already been united with Connecticut, 
and New Haven was now joined to it. 

When James II came to the throne he determined to take away 
the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, as his brother, 
Charles II, had done in the case of Massachusetts (§ 88). His 
object was to bring them directly under his despotic control. Sir 
Edmund Andros (§ 88) was made governor of New England, and 
went with a body of troops to Hartford to demand the Connecticut 
charter (1687). 

The Connecticut people looked upon that document as the title 
deed of their liberties, and resolved never to give it up, even if 
the King himself demanded it. 

Andros met the Legislature, and discussed the matter until 
evening. At his order, the box holding the precious charter was 
brought in and placed on the table. Then, according to tradi- 
tion, the candles were suddenly blown out, and when they were 
relighted the charter had disappeared. It is said to have been 

1 According to tradition, Goffe saved the town of Hadley, Massachusetts (where he was 
living concealed in 1675), in an Indian attack during King Philip's War (§ 86). The savages 
were on the point of gaining the day, when a venerable man with a long white beard suddenly 
appeared, rallied the inhabitants, and drove off the assailants. He then disappeared. Some 
thought they owed their victory to an angel. 



88 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1687 



hidden in a hollow oak not far off, which was ever after known 
as the Charter Oak.^ 

Andros, however, declared that the colony should no longer be 
governed under the charter, and, to show that the end had come, 
he ordered the clerk to write '' Finis " at the close of the record 
of the meeting. When the people of Boston (§ 88) compelled 
Andros to give up the power he had abused, the charter was 




Governor Andros demands the Charter of Connecticut 

brought from its hiding place, and Connecticut maintained her 
government under it not only until the Revolution but for many 
years afterward (i8i8). 

99. Summary. Connecticut was settled chiefly by emigrants 
from eastern Massachusetts and from England. It was the first 
colony in America to frame a written constitution of government 
— one which gave the right to vote to every citizen. The King 
granted the colonists a charter confirming their power of gov- 
erning themselves. Governor Andros, by the order of James II, 
tried to get possession of the charter, but failed. Except for a 
very short period, Connecticut practically continued to maintain 
her own laws. 

1 See Palfrey's " History of New England," TIT, 542-545. The famous Charter Oak 
stood in what is now Charter Oak Place, Hartford. It was blown down in 1856. The spot 
is marked by a marble tablet. 



1634] 



THE CATHOLIC PILGRIMS 



89 



VII. Maryland (1634) 

100. The Catholic Pilgrims; Lord Baltimore; Maryland. We 

have seen how a band of Protestant Pilgrims (§ 69) settled Plym- 
outh in 1620; fourteen years later (1634) a company of Catholic 
Pilgrims came to America for a like reason — that they might build 
up a state where they could worship God without molestation. 1 

George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, a Catholic nobleman of ex- 
cellent ability and high standing, resolved to provide a refuge in 
the New World for the persecuted people of 
his faith. From his friend King Charles I 
he obtained the promise of a grant of land in 
northern Virginia. Lord Baltimore died be- 
fore the charter was completed, but his son, 
Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, re- 
ceived the grant. It made him practically all 
but king over a territory north of the Poto- 
mac, to which Charles I gave the name of 
Maryland, in honor of his wife, Mary, who 
was a Catholic. 

1 01. The Settlement of St. Marys ; the Wig- 
wam Church. The first colony, led by Gov- 
ernor Leonard Calvert, — a younger brother 
of the second Lord Baltimore, — landed on the northern bank 
of the Potomac, near its mouth, and founded the town of St. 
Marys (1634). About twenty of the colonists were gentlemen of 
wealth and standing, — most of them probably Catholics ; the rest 
of the emigrants were laborers, and seem to have been chiefly 
Protestants. 

Father White, a priest who accompanied the expedition, got per- 
mission from an Indian chief to convert his wigwam into a chapel. 
That humble hut, made of strips of bark, was the first English 
Catholic church in America. Virginia would not have permitted 

1 The English law imposed the ruinous fine of twenty pounds a month — a sum equal 
to not less than ^700 to $800 now — on every Catholic who refused to attend the services of 
the Church of England, This law was not always strictly enforced, but large sums were 
frequently extorted by the government from the Catholics by way of compromise. 




The First English 

Catholic Church 

IN America 



90 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1634-1649 

that church to stand ; New England would not. It was only in the 
wilderness of Maryland, in that mixed population of Catholics and 
Protestants, that it was safe. 

102. Political and Religious Freedom of the Colony; the Toler- 
ation Act, 1649. From the beginning all the colonists took part in 
making the laws by which they were governed, and in a few years 
Lord Baltimore granted them the power of originating those laws. 
In religion absolute freedom of worship was given to all Chris- 
tians,^ but to Christians only. No other colony in this country then 
(1634) enjoyed such liberty, and it was unknown in England. In 
1649 the famous Toleration Act^ confirmed their liberty. 

The result was that Maryland became a refuge not only for the 
oppressed Catholics of England, but also for many of the oppressed 
Protestants of the other colonies of America. Puritans driven out 
of Virginia by the Church of England (§ 44), Quakers exiled from 
Massachusetts by the Puritans (§85), both came to Maryland and 
found homes there. 

103. The Clayborne and Ingle Rebellion ; Lord Baltimore's Gov- 
ernment overthrown; Persecution of the Catholics. The colony, 
however, was not to enjoy the peace for which it hoped. William 
Clayborne, a Virginian and a Puritan, had established a fur-trading 
post on Kent Island in Chesapeake Bay within the limits claimed 
by Lord Baltimore. He endeavored to hold the island by force, 
but was driven out. When the civil war (§ 5 3) broke out in Eng- 
land, the colonists of Maryland, like the people of Great Britain, 
took sides for or against the King. 

Taking advantage of this division, Clayborne stirred up a 
rebellion (1645) and kept the whole country in a turmoil for 
two or three years. Captain Ingle, who asserted that he acted 

1 It is true that Lord Baltimore, holding his charter, as he did, from the Protestant 
sovereign of a Protestant nation, could not have safely denied liberty of worship to Protes- 
tants ; but it is also true that he evidently had no desire in his heart to deny such liberty. 
The fact that he invited Puritans into the colony and protected them from persecution 
shows the man's true spirit. 

2 The Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 declared that no person professing belief in Jesus 
Christ shall be " in any ways troubled, molested, or discountenanced for or in respect of his 
or her religion, nor in the free exercise thereof." This law did not protect Jews or any others 
who denied the doctrine of the Trinity. 



1645-1689] LOSS OF THE CHARTER 9 1 

under the authority of the Puritan Parliament of England, but who 
was practically a pirate, got possession of St. Marys. He plundered 
it, and, seizing '' the venerable Father White," sent him to Eng- 
land in irons on a groundless charge of treason against the Parlia- 
ment of that country. 

But worse was to come. After the King was dethroned and exe- 
cuted, and a republic set up in England, the authorities there sent 
commissioners to compel the people of Maryland to swear fidelity 
to the new government. At the same time Lord Baltimore in- 
sisted that as Maryland was his property the settlers should swear 
fidelity to him. The Puritans in the colony objected to taking this 
last oath, on the ground that Lord Baltimore was a Catholic. 

The commissioners went to Maryland, forced Governor Stone, 
who had succeeded Governor Calvert, to resign, and put one 
of their own choice in his place. They then caused a General 
Assembly to be summoned at St. Marys, but ordered that no 
Catholic should be elected to it, or should cast a vote for any 
representative. The new Legislature repealed the Toleration Act 
of 1649, which granted religious freedom to all Christians (§ 102). 
In its place they enacted a law prohibiting Catholic worship 
throughout Maryland. 

Furthermore, the Assembly declared that Lord Baltimore no 
longer had any rights whatever in the colony which he himself 
had founded, and to which he had invited many of the very people 
who now turned against him. That action must have reminded 
him of the story of the camel that begged shelter in his master''s 
tent, and, when he had got it, kicked the owner out. 

104. Lord Baltimore restored to his Rights; Loss of the Charter. 
But about four years later (1658) Parliament restored Lord Balti- 
more to his rights. Freedom of worship was again established, 
and for the next thirty years the colony prospered. 

Meanwhile, England had again become a monarchy (§§ 53, 54), 
and William and Mary, who were pledged to support the Protestant 
cause, came to the throne (1689). 

In Maryland there was an unavoidable delay on the part of 
the Governor in proclaiming the new sovereigns. The enemies 



92 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1715-176. 



If' 



of Lord Baltimore circulated the report that this delay was part of 
a plot, and that the Catholics of Maryland — who were now not 
nearly so numerous as the Protestants — had conspired with the 
Indians to massacre all the people of the colony not of their faith. 
The story was wickedly false, but many of the Protestants be- 
lieved it. They rose in "revolt, and in consequence the new King 
thought it wise to take the government of the colony into his own 
hands. '' The best men and the best Protestants " of the colony 
stood up for Lord Baltimore, but without avail. 

105. Establishment of the Church of England; Restoration of 
Maryland to Lord Baltimore; Mason and Dixon's Line. The 
Church of England was now established as 
the government church in Maryland, and every 
taxpayer, no matter what his religion, had to 
pay forty pounds of tobacco yearly towards its 
support. The Catholic wor- 
ship was not again allowed 
to be openly observed until 
Maryland became independent 
(1776). 

On the death of the third 
Lord Baltimore (171 5), his 
son, who had become a Protes- 
tant, was made proprietor and 
governor of Maryland. He and 
his descendants held it until 
the Revolution ( 1 7 76) . Mean- 
while (1729), the city of Bal- 
timore was founded, and named in honor of the originator of the 
colony. 

William Penn had already founded the colony of Pennsylvania 
(1682), and from that time for many years there were bitter dis- 
putes about the boundary between that colony and Maryland. At 
length Mason and Dixon, two eminent English surveyors, were 
employed (i 763-1 767) to establish a boundary that would be 
satisfactory to both colonies. 




Mason and Dixon laying out the 
Boundary Line 



1636] SUMMARY 93 

They ran the main border Hne due west nearly two hundred and 
fifty miles ; later it was carried thirty miles farther. When prac- 
ticable, they set up a stone at every fifth mile, with the coat-of- 
arms of William Penn cut on the north side, and that of Lord 
Baltimore on the south. That boundary — the Mason and Dixon's 
Line of history — became famous, for it was looked upon as mark- 
ing the division between the free and the slave states formed from 
the original thirteen which entered the Union. 

io6. Summary. The colony of Maryland was planted by Lord 
Baltimore, an English Catholic. He, first in America, established 
freedom of worship for all Christians. The peace of the colony 
was interrupted by civil war, and enemies of Lord Baltimore, join- 
ing with Puritan settlers who had come in, overthrew the govern- 
ment and forbade the exercise of the Catholic religion. 

Lord Baltimore succeeded after a time in regaining his power 
and again granted freedom of worship ; but, finally, the King took 
possession of the colony and compelled the people to maintain 
the Church of England until the Revolution, though the gov- 
ernment of the colony was eventually restored to the Baltimore 
family, who had become Protestants. 

Vin. Rhode Island (1636) 

107. Roger Williams seeks Refuge among the Indians; settles 
Providence. When (1635 ) Roger Williams fled from Massachusetts 
(§ 79) into the wilderness, his situation was one of extreme peril. 
It was midwinter and the snow was deep. Williams was in feeble 
health and a wanderer in a trackless forest. Fortunately he had 
made the Indians his friends and could speak their language. The 
exile made his way to the hospitable wigwam of the chief Massasoit 
(§74), at the head of Narragansett Bay. There he found a home 
till spring. 

Then with five friends, who had joined him from Massachu- 
setts, he went to the Seekonk River ^ and built a cabin on its 
eastern bank. Finding that the place he had chosen was under 

1 Seekonk River, on the east side of the city of Providence. 



94 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1636-1639 

the control of Plymouth colony, he and his companions crossed 
the river in a canoe. They were hailed by some Indians who 
were standing on a ledge of rock on the western bank.^ '' What 
cheer ? " cried the friendly red men to the wanderers. 

This welcome from the natives led Williams and his friends 
to land for a short time. Then they paddled down the river 
and again landed at the foot of some rising ground, where they 
found a spring of excellent water. There (1636) they determined 
to stay and build homes for themselves. Out of gratitude to 




"What Cheer Rock' 



*' God's merciful Providence to him in his distress " Roger Wil- 
liams gave to the place the appropriate name of Providence. 
There he, with others, founded (1639) the first Baptist church in 
America. To-day Providence ranks as the second city of New 
England in population and wealth. So we see that in Roger 
Williams's case banishment instead of destroying his influence 
made it far greater. 

108. Williams establishes a Colony; Liberty of Conscience; 
Growth of the Principle. More settlers came and the town of 
Providence took firm root. From the beginning entire freedom 

1 " What Cheer Rock," on the east side of Providence, foot of Power Street. 



1644] SETTLEMENT OF RHODE ISLAND 95 

of conscience was given to every one. Maryland (§ 102) had 
granted such Hberty to all Christians, but the colony of Provi- 
dence granted it not only to Protestants and to Catholics, but 
to Jews. More than that even, it protected unbelievers, and de- 
clared that men of all religions and men of no religion should live 
unmolested so long as they behaved themselves. 

Furthermore, Roger Williams denied that the government had 
the right to tax the people, against their will, to support any 
church. He first put in practice the American principle — that 
government has nothing whatever to do with maintaining any 
particular form of religious worship. 

That idea was so* new and strange that the other colonies 
thought it false and dangerous, and predicted that it would soon 
die out. Instead of that it steadily grew and spread, until in 
time it became a part of the Constitution of the United States, 
and there we read this sentence, which Roger Williams him- 
self might have written, '' Congress shall make no law respect- 
ing an establishment of religion^ or prohibiting the free exercise 
thereof y ^ 

109. Settlement of Rhode Island; the Charter. Later, emi- 
grants from Massachusetts planted colonies at Portsmouth, New- 
port, and Warwick. Williams went to England (1644) and got 
a charter which united these colonies and practically gave them 
full power to rule themselves by such form of government 
as they thought best. That charter was confirmed by a second, 
and though Andros (§ 98), when he was made governor of 
New England, tried hard to get possession of it, yet Rhode 
Island kept it as her form of government until long after the 
Revolution (1842). 

Rhode Island always remained true to the principle of " soul 
liberty," first successfully put in practice by Roger Williams 
(§ 79) ; and though at one time Catholics and Jews were not 
allowed to vote,^ yet they had full freedom of worship, and not 

1 See Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Article I. Compare also 
Article VI of the Constitution : *-^ No religiotis test shall ever be required as a qualification to 
any office or public trust under the Ufiited States.''^ 

2 On this point see Winsor's " America," III, 379, 380. 



96 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



a single blot of religious persecution rests on the fair pages of the 
history of the colony. 

During the Revolution every man in Rhode Island stood ready 
to fight for independence. 

no. Summary. Roger Williams, an exiled minister from Mas- 
sachusetts, with others, colonized Rhode Island and first established 
entire freedom of worship in this country. That principle now 
forms part of the Constitution of the United States. 



IX. New Sweden, or Delaware (1638) 

III. The Swedes plant a Colony on the Delaware; it is cap- 
tured by the Dutch. The names of the first European colo- 
nies in America 
^ I were generally ex- 

pressive of ambi- 
tion, youth, and 
hope. It was be- 
cause the nations 
of the Old World 
had resolved to 
build up grander 
nations in the 
New. Thus the 
Spaniards had 
founded a New Spain ^ ; the French a New France ^ ; the Dutch, 
or Netherlanders, a New Netherland (§59); the English, a 
New England. 

The Swedes, animated by a like feeling, endeavored to begin 
here a New Sweden (1638). That year their government sent 
over a colony which landed on the western bank of the Delaware 
River. At a point near where Wilmington now stands the emi- 
grants built a fort which they named Christina in honor of young 
Queen Christina of Sweden. 




The Swedes making a Settlement on the 
Delaware River 



1 New Spain. This name was given by the Spaniards to Mexico, but Florida was also 
sometimes so called, 2 Canada was also known by the name of New France. 



1663-1703] THE ENGLISH TAKE THE COUNTRY 97 

The Dutch had already attempted to settle Delaware (1629). 
They claimed the territory ; and Governor Stuyvesant (§62) came 
with a fleet from New Amsterdam (1654), captured the country, 
and sent home those of the colonists who would not swear fidelity 
to the Dutch government. 

112. The English take the Country; the State of Delaware. 
The Dutch had been in possession of the land a little over ten 
years when the English Duke of York seized it (1665), as he had 
already seized that on the Hudson (§ 62). He sold it (168 1) to the 
Quaker, William Penn (§§65, 119). Penn called the country '' The 
Territories," or '' The Three Lower Counties on the Delaware." 
Up to the Revolution it was considered a part of Pennsylvania 
and was under the control of the governor of that province, 
although after a time (1703) the people — among whom were 
many English Quakers and Welsh — obtained the privilege of 
having a Legislature of their own. 

In 1776, when the war against Great Britain broke out, the 
inhabitants of ''The Territories" declared themselves a free and 
independent state, and took the name of Delaware from the river 
which forms the northeastern boundary of the state. 

Though the smallest of all the states, save Rhode Island, Dela- 
ware was foremost in accepting the national Constitution (1787), 
and was therefore the first to enter the American Union. On that 
roll of honor her name leads all the rest. 

113. Summary. This colony, settled by the Swedes as New 
Sweden, was taken by the Dutch, and then by the English, who 
sold it to William Penn. He governed it as part of Pennsyl- 
vania. When it became independent it took the name of Delaware. 
After the Revolution it was the first state to adopt the ConstitU' 
tion of the United States. 

X-XI. North and South Carolina (1663) 

114. Grant of Carolina; First Settlements. Charles II of 
England granted an immense tract of land (1663) south of Vir- 
ginia to a company composed of Lord Clarendon and seven 



98 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1670-1680 



associates. Out of compliment to the King the territory was called 
Carolina.^ On the coast it embraced the entire region now included 
in the states of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and a part of 
Florida ; like Virginia (§ 43), Massachusetts (§ 77), and Connect- 
icut (§ 98), it extended westward to the Pacific. 

115. Settlement of Charleston; the Huguenots. The first set- 
tlement direct from England was made (1670) on the banks of 
the Ashley River, in the southern part of Carolina. 

Ten years later (1680) the colonists moved across to the pen- 
insula between the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and there laid the 

foundations of the city of 
Charleston. 

From the outset the 
Company granted reli- 
gious liberty to all colo- 
nists. One of the results 
of that wise policy was 
that many Huguenots, or 
French Protestants (§ 23), 
fled to Carolina to escape 
the terrible persecution to 
which they were subject 
in their native land. No 
better class of emigrants 
could have been desired. 
They represented not only the best bone and sinew, but the best 
intellect and conscience of France. They brought with them that 
power and influence which spring not from rank or money but 
from character. 

A hundred years later, two of the descendants of those 
South Carolina Huguenots — Henry Laurens,^ the statesman, 

1 Carolina : the name was originally given to the country by Charles IX of France at the 
time of the attempted French settlements (§ 23), and was retained out of honor to the Eng- 
lish king Charles II. The name was derived from Carolus, Latin for Charles. It was cus- 
tomary for kings to employ the Latin form for their names. 

2 Henry Laurens : he was the fourth president of the Continental Congress (1777) and 
was one of the commissioners sent to Paris to sign the treaty of peace with Great Britain at 
the close of the Revolutionc 




Laurens and Marion 



1693-1712] NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA 99 

and General Marion/ the noble Revolutionary leader — won im- 
perishable renown by their services in the cause of American 
liberty. 

1 1 6. The "Grand Model*'; Division of the Territory into 
North and South Carolina. Meantime (1670), the eminent Eng- 
lish philosopher, John Locke, had drafted a constitution for Caro- 
lina, called the " Grand Model." 

The *' Grand Model " established a nobility who practically held 
all power. It also set up courts of justice intended to regulate 
everything from the gravest questions of law down to the cut of 
a man's coat, or the trimming of a woman's bonnet. 

This remarkable constitution gave the common people no rights. 
They could not vote ; they could not hold landed property ; they 
could not even leave the soil they tilled, without permission from 
the nobleman who owned it. When a wealthy planter bought a 
tract of land in Carolina he expected to purchase the white laborers 
on it : they, like the trees and the stones, were considered a part 
of the estate. 

But most of the inhabitants of the territory decidedly objected' 
to the '' Grand Model." They were resolved to own themselves, 
to own the labor of their hands, to own all the land they could 
honestly buy, and, lastly, to make their own laws. After twenty 
years of contest they succeeded. The colony was eventually divided 
(171 2) into North and South Carolina, and from that time until 
the Declaration of Independence (1776) each was subject to a 
governor appointed by the King. 

117. Growth of the Two Colonies; Introduction of Rice and 
Indigo Culture ; Charleston. The growth of North Carolina was 
very slow, and the manufacture of pitch, tar, and turpentine did 
not tend to build up large towns. 

In South Carolina, Charleston made little progress for the 
first twenty years. But about that time (1693) the Captain of a 
vessel coming from the Far East gave the Governor of the colony 
a bag of rice to plant as an experiment. He distributed the rice 

1 General Marion : one of the heroes of the War of Independence (§ 184). His epitaph 
declares with entire truth that he " lived without fear, and died without reproach." 



lOO LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1741 



among the planters and they set their slaves to raising it. In 
time South Carolina became the largest rice-producing and rice- 
exporting state in the Union. 

Next, a lady living near Charleston planted a little indigo 
(1741). The frost killed it. She planted more and the worms 
destroyed it. She began again and this time she succeeded. 
To the colonists the news of her crop, small as it was, was 
like the report of the discovery of a gold mine. Indigo then 

brought in Europe sometimes 
I I r , m. a dollar and a half a pound ; 

and shortly before the Revo- 
lution Charleston ex- 
ported over a million 
pounds in a single year. 
After the Revolution 
(1793) cotton (§205) 
was found to be even 
more profitable than 
indigo, and so the cul- 
ture of that plant was 
given up. 

The exportation of 
rice and indigo made 
the city grow rapidly. 
Josiah Quincy of Bos- 
ton visited it (1773), 
and said of it, ''In 
almost everything it far surpasses all I ever saw or ever expected 
to see in America." 

118. Summary. Carolina, which was eventually divided into 
North and South Carolina, was settled by emigrants from Vir- 
ginia, by English, and also by Huguenots, or French Protestants. 
General Marion of the Revolution was a descendant from a 
Huguenot family. The English Company owning the province 
undertook to govern it by a constitution called the " Grand 
Model," but the people refused to accept it and insisted on 




The Gift of Rice to South Carolina 



1681] GRANT TO WILLIAM PENN lOl 

governing themselves. North CaroHna engaged in the manufac- 
ture of tar, pitch, and turpentine ; South CaroHna began the 
culture of rice and indigo,' both of which proved highly profit- 
able. At the time of the Revolution Charleston was one of 
the chief cities of America. 



Xn. Pennsylvania (i68i) 

119. Grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn; the ** Holy 
Experiment.** Charles II owed William Penn, the most influen- 
tial of the English Friends, or Quakers (§83), a large sum of 
money. As that good-natured but extravagant monarch always 
contracted as many debts as possible and paid as few, Penn 
suggested to his Majesty that he might easily settle his claim 
by granting him a tract of 
land in America. The propo- 
sition pleased the King, and he 
gave Penn a territory of about 
forty-eight thousand square 
miles fronting on the Delaware 
River. Charles named this vast 
region (which was nearly as 
large as the whole of Eng- 

1 ,. -r. 1 • T. > Penn at Newcastle 

land) Pennsylvania, or Penn s 

Woods. Penn was well known in Europe for his fair dealing. 

Everybody had confidence in him. For this reason not only 

English Quakers but many Germans got ready to emigrate to 

Pennsylvania. 

In those woods Penn resolved to begin what he called his 
"Holy Experiment." He set out to establish a ''free colony" 
on the basis of that Golden Rule which commands us to do 
unto others as we wish them to do unto us. The Quaker founder 
thought that even the North American savages could understand 
that principle and would let the people who practiced it grow up 
in peace. The King suggested that the savages would be more 
likely to respect a well-armed regiment of soldiers ; but Penn had 




102 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1681 




^on-O^iif <H»h} ) 



<t rcvir&mef J^^n^nWoi 




Part of the Border and Text of King Charles 

no faith in the virtues of gunpowder and 
would not send so much as a single musket 
to protect his colony. 

120. Emigration to Pennsylvania; Land- 
ing at Newcastle; Philadelphia. Penn sent 
out some emigrants (i68i), and followed the 
next year with one hundred English Quak- 
ers (§83). He landed at Newcastle in what 
is now Delaware. He had purchased that 
territory from the Duke of York (§ 112), to 
add to Pennsylvania. 

The whole population of the region gath- 
ered to welcome him and to witness the in- 
teresting ceremony of his taking possession 
of his vast estate. First, a piece of turf was 
handed to Penn — that meant that he owned 
the land and all that grew on it ; next, a 
dish filled from the Delaware River was 
given to him — that signified that he owned 
the water ; finally, the key of the fort was solemnly presented to 
him — that act completed the transfer, for it acknowledged his 



1681-1683] 



THE "GREAT LAW 



103 




IPs Charter to Penn, with Portrait .of the King 

right to hold both land and water by military 
force, — the last thing he, as a zealous Quaker, 
would wish to do. 

Penn then proceeded up the Delaware River 
and founded a city (1682) to which he gave the 
Bible name of Philadelphia, or Brotherly Love 
(Revelation iii. 7-8). 

He had planned it all before he left England. 
It is said that not even a thousand dollars has 
had to be spent since in straightening or widen- 
ing streets, for that work was done, once for all, 
in Penn's orderly brain before the first house was 
built (1683). 

121. The ** Great Law." Furthermore, Penn 
called an assembly at Chester, and he with the 
people enacted the ''Great Law" (1682). 

That constitution had a twofold foundation, — 
liberty of the people to make their own laws, and 
obedience to the laws they had made ; for, said 
Penn, '* Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience 
without liberty is slavery." 



'.^3^ 



I04 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1682 

By the '' Great Law " it was provided : 

1. That all colonists should be protected in their worship of 
God, but that no one should be compelled to support or attend 
any form of worship against his will.^ 

2. That all resident taxpayers should have the right to vote, 
and that every member of any Christian church might hold office 
and become a member of the legislative assembly .^ 

^ 3. That every child, after reaching the age of twelve, should 
be brought up to some trade or useful occupation. 

4. That the death penalty should be inflicted for two crimes 
only, instead of for two hundred, as in England ; those two were 
murder and treason. 

5 . Furthermore, it was ordered — perhaps for the first time in 
the history of the world — that every prison should be made a 
workshop and a place of reformation. ^ 

122. The Great Treaty; Growth and Importance of Philadel- 
phia. Penn's next act (1682)^ was a treaty with the Indians. 
According to tradition he met the Red Men under the branches 
of a wide-spreading elm in what was then the vicinity of Philadel- 
phia.^ There solemn promises of mutual friendship were made. 
In accordance, however, with the principles of the Quaker faith, no 
oaths were taken (§83). Each trusted to the other's simple word. 

That treaty was '' never broken," ^ and for sixty years, or as 
long as the Quakers held control, the people of Pennsylvania 

1 No person believing in God and living peaceably and justly " shall in any wise be 
molested." — The ^'^Great Law^'' Section i, Hazard's "Annals of Pennsylvania." 

2 This is according to Section 65 of The ^'^ Great Law'''' \ but Section 2 of the same would 
appear to limit the right to elect members to the assembly to " such as profess and declare 
they believe in Jesus Christ." 

3 The prisons of Europe at that time were dens of idleness and disorder, and the criminal 
usually came out actually worse than he went in. 

■* See Hazard's " Annals of Pennsylvania," p. 635 ; but some authorities fix the date at 
1683 and consider the treaty to have covered the purchase of lands. 

5 The treaty was made at Kensington, in the northeastern part of the city. The Treaty 
Elm was blown down in 18 10. So great was the regard for the old tree that during the 
Revolution, when the British forces occupied Philadelphia, General Simcoe, their com- 
mander, stationed a sentinel under it to prevent his soldiers from cutting it down for fire- 
wood. The monument marking the spot where it stood is on the west side of Beach Street, 
north of Columbia Street, Kensington. 

6 Voltaire, the French historian, said that it wais " the only treaty which was never sworn to 
and never broken " ; if he had heard of Carver's treaty (§ 74) , he would have mentioned that too. 



1682-] 



SUMMARY 



105 



lived at peace with the natives. The site of the tree under 
which that memorable transaction took place is now marked by 
a monument. The Indian record of the treaty — a belt of wam- 
pum representing Penn^ and the chief clasping hands — is still 
preserved. 2 

Philadelphia grew rapidly, and at the beginning of the Revo- 
lution it was the largest and the most important city in the 
American colonies. 

There the first Continental Congress met (1774), there inde- 
pendence was declared (1776), there too the present Constitution 
of the United States was framed y^. 

(1787), and there the seat of gov- 
ernment remained (i 790-1 800) un- 
til it was removed to Washington, 
then " a backwoods settlement in the 
wilderness." 

123. Summary. William Penn 
founded the colony of Pennsylvania, 
or '' Penn's Woods." He gave the 
people the right to take part in mak- 
ing the laws, and all persons believ- 
ing in God were protected in their 
religion. He made a treaty of peace 
with the Indians which was sacredly kept. At the opening of the 
Revolution Philadelphia was the chief city of the country and 
long the seat of government. 







The Penn Treaty Monument 



1 William Penn set sail for England, August 12, 1684, having spent not quite two years in 
Pennsylvania. He visited the colony again in 1699, and returned to England in 1701, where 
he spent the remaining seventeen years of his life. His outlay in Pennsylvania had involved 
him heavily in debt, and in 1709 he was obliged to mortgage his province for^^GGoo. Other 
misfortunes fell upon him, and at one time he was a prisoner for debt in London. He was 
negotiating a sale of his right in Pennsylvania to the English government at the time of his 
death. His successors were unlike him, and their greedy and unjust policy created constant 
irritation. In 1779 the state of Pennsylvania purchased their rights for ^650,000. 

2 Forcut showing this belt see § 35. Penn is the right-hand figure. The belt is in the pos- 
session of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia. See their " Memoirs," Vol. VI, 



lo6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1733 

XIII. Georgia (1733) 

124. Oglethorpe's Project for the Settlement of Georgia; his 
Three Objects. Many years after Penn founded his colony the 
English general James Oglethorpe, with others, obtained from 
George II a charter for colonizing the unoccupied part of South 
Carolina. 

In honor of the King the new colony was named Georgia. 
It extended along the coast from the Savannah River to the 
Altamaha River. Westward, as in the case of Virginia (§ 43), 
Massachusetts (§ 77), the Carolinas (§ 1 14), and Connecticut (§ 98), 
the tract extended to the Pacific. (Map, p. 51.) 

In this undertaking Oglethorpe and his associates had three 
great objects in view. 

1 . They wished to help the poor debtors in prison in England 
to go to America. Many of these men had been thrown into jail 
in London because they could not pay some trifling debt which 
they had contracted through sickness or misfortune. They were 
often honest, hard-working people, and Oglethorpe believed that 
in Georgia they would have an opportunity to make a new start 
in life. 

2. Oglethorpe also wished to open a refuge in America for 
Protestants who were being driven out of southern Germany on 
account of their religion. 

3. He wanted to establish Georgia as a frontier colony which 
would protect Charleston, South Carolina (§ 115), from attacks by 
the Spaniards of Florida (§ 23). 

125. The Settlement at Savannah; Silk Culture. Oglethorpe 
went out with the first emigrants and built the town of Savannah 
on the Savannah River (1733). 

Mulberry trees grew wild in Georgia, and as their leaves are 
the best food for silkworms, the colonists hoped to produce silk in 
large quantities. The silk culture, however, never went very far, 
and in the end cotton was found to be much more profitable. 

126. Restrictions on the Colony. Oglethorpe and his associates 
were determined to make Georgia a model colony where every 



1733-] 



GOVERNMENT OF GEORGIA 



107 



man should work with his hands and where none should indulge 
in strong drink. In every one of the other twelve colonies in 
America the people held slaves and made use of West India rum, 
which was then a common beverage everywhere. 

But the people of Georgia were forbidden to buy either ne- 
groes or rum. This regulation produced great discontent, since 
without slaves the colonists could not raise rice, like the South 
Carolinians (§ 1 1 7), and unless they 
could import rum from the West 
Indies, as the other colonists did, 
they could not open a trade with 
those islands. 

Furthermore, Oglethorpe and his 
associates established a government 
which provided that for twenty-one 
years the colonists should have no 
voice in making the laws. This 
regulation kept the great body of 
the people like children and made 
that best of all education — the 
education which comes from self- 
government — impossible. Liberty ^' 
of worship was granted, but not to \ 
Catholics. Finally, a fourth regu- 
lation confined the ownership of 
land to those who could do mili- 
tary service in its defense. This 

cut off women from inheriting real estate, and all colonists who 
did not have sons protested against it. 

127. TheWesleys; Whitefield; Restrictions removed ; the Span- 
iards ; Natural Resources of Georgia. John and Charles Wesley, 
the founders of the Methodist church in England, went out to 
Georgia as missionaries to the Indians. Later, another noted 
preacher of one branch of that denomination, the Rev. George 
Whitefield, established an orphan asylum near Savannah, which 
he partly supported by slave labor. John Wesley hated slavery 




The Landing at Savannah 



lo8 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1750-1752 

and believed that it was a sin against God and man ; but White- 
field believed that the negro was not then fit to be free, and that 
slavery was just the sort of schoolmaster he needed. 

Whitefield, with others, succeeded in getting the proprietors 
of the colony to permit the planters to purchase slaves to work in 
their rice swamps (1750) ; next, the prohibition on the importation 
of rum from the West Indies was removed, and the land laws 
were changed for the better. The result was that Georgia built 
up a flourishing commerce and became able to hold her own with 
the Carolinas. 

The colony was successful in checking the attacks of the 
Spaniards. Oglethorpe defeated an expedition which they sent 
to conquer and drive out the settlers, and he did the work so 
thoroughly that the enemy had no desire to make his further 
acquaintance.^ 

Soon afterward Georgia became a royal province (1752) and 
was governed by the crown until the Revolution. No colony 
planted by the English possesses greater natural resources or nat- 
ural wealth — in cotton, coal, and iron — than the territory that 
was first settled by the philanthropist Oglethorpe, who sought the 
prosperity of all. If he could see what Georgia has become, and, 
better still, see its probable future, he would feel that he could not 
have chosen more wisely. 

128. Summary. Georgia, the last of the thirteen colonies, and 
one of the richest in its natural advantages, was settled by Eng- 
lish emigrants brought over by General Oglethorpe, as a work 
of charity. One chief object of the colony was the raising of silk. 
That, however, was unsuccessful. In the outset the settlers had 
no power of self-government, and the land laws caused much 
discontent. Slavery and the importation of mm from the West 
Indies were forbidden, but later both were allowed, the people 
got the management of the colony, in considerable measure and 
Georgia opened a profitable trade with the West Indies. 

1 The defeat of the Spaniards had the effect of extending the southern boundary of 
Georgia to the St. Johns River, Florida. In 1763 it was fixed at the present line. 



1669-1673] FRENCH EXPLORATION lOQ 

The French Exploration of the West 

129. French Exploration of the Great Lakes and the Missis- 
sippi Valley; the Catholic Missionaries. While the EngUsh col- 
onists had been getting firm possession of the coast from Maine 
to Georgia, the French in Canada (§ 48) had not been sitting 
still. In fact, it was they, and not the English, who were the 
explorers of the West. Among the first Europeans who dared 
to push their way into that vast wilderness were Catholic mis- 
sionaries, who had come here to convert the Indians. In their 
zeal for this work they braved all dangers — enduring hunger, 
cold, and torture without a murmur. Long before William Penn's 
emigrants had felled the first tree for the first log cabin in 
Philadelphia, these missionaries had reached the western shore 
of Lake Michigan (1669) and had planted missions among the 
Indians at Mackinaw, Sault Ste. Marie, and Green Bay. (Map, 
p. III.) 

130. Joliet and Marquette on the Mississippi. A few years 
later (1673) Joliet, a famous French explorer and fur trader, 
and Father Marquette, a Catholic priest, set out from Mackinaw 
to find a great river which the Indians told them lay west of 
Lake Michigan. Making their way in birch-bark canoes (§ 34) 
to the head of Green Bay, they paddled up the Fox River to a 
place which they called Portage i; then carrying their canoes 
across a short distance, they embarked on the Wisconsin River. 
(Map, p. III.) Borne by the current, they dropped down the 
Wisconsin until, on a beautiful day in June, they floated out on 
the broad, shining bosom of the upper Mississippi. The sight 
of it was enough : they knew that they had found that mighty 
stream which the Indians called the '' Father of Waters." 

Turning their canoes southward, they let the river bear them 
where it would. Day after day they kept on their silent jour- 
ney. They glided by castle-shaped cliffs, open prairies, and hun- 
dreds of miles of unbroken forest. Thus they drifted on, past the 

1 Portage : a French word, meaning a carrying place, because at such points canoes or 
goods were carried across from one stream to another. (See Map, p. iii.) 



no LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1673-1G79 

muddy torrent of the Missouri, past the mouth of the beautiful 
Ohio. In about three weeks the explorers came to the spot where 
De Soto (§ 2i) had crossed the river more than a hundred years 
before ; then, pushing on, they reached the mouth of the Arkansas. 
There some Indians told them that the tribes below were hostile 
to strangers and that they had better return. Joliet and Marquette 
took their advice, got into their canoes, and patiently paddled their 
way back. Under the burning sun they battled for hundreds of 
miles against the powerful current; it was indeed a tremendous 
piece of uphill work. 

At last they reached the mouth of the Illinois ; they worked 
their way up that river to an Indian village just below Ottawa, 




Joliet and Marquette entering the Mississippi 

and then made their way across to Lake Michigan. They had not 
followed the Mississippi to the Gulf, as they intended, but who 
will say that they had not made a good beginning ? 

131. La Salle reaches the Mouth of the Mississippi. Six years 
later (1679) La Salle, the greatest of the French explorers, a man 
of active brain and iron will, set out from Canada to complete the 
work of Joliet and Marquette. On the Niagara River, not far 
above the falls, he built the first sailing vessel ever launched on 
the upper Great Lakes. In her he sailed to Green Bay ; then, 
sending the vessel back for supplies, he and his companions went 
in canoes to the St. Joseph River,i near the southeastern corner 
of Lake Michigan. (Map, p. 1 1 1 .) There they built a fort ; then, 
crossing over to the head waters of the Kankakee, a tributary of 
the Illinois, they descended that river to the point where Peoria 
now stands. There they built a second fort. 

1 La Salle paddled from Green Bay round to the St. Joseph River, Michigan. 



1679-] LA SALLE REACHES THE MISSISSIPPI III 

Leaving a small garrison to hold this position, La Salle, near 
the end of winter, went back on foot to Fort Frontenac (now 




Map showing the thirteen English Colonies and the French 
Explorations and Settlements in the West 

Kingston), on Lake Ontario, in eastern Canada. (Map, above.) 
He made that journey of a thousand miles to get the supplies 
which he needed for the exploration of the Mississippi. 



112 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1681-1682 



While he was gone, Father Hennepin, a Catholic missionary 
in La Salle's expedition, set out from the fort to explore the 
country. After many startling adventures he finally reached a 
cataract on the upper Mississippi, which he named the Falls of 
St. Anthony. 

When La Salle returned to Illinois (1681), he found his fort 
deserted and in ruins. But the brave Frenchman knew no 

such word as fail. In the 
autumn he set out on his 
great expedition for the third 
time. Landing at the head of 
Lake Michigan, where Chi- 
cago now stands, he crossed 
over to the Illinois and, go- 
ing down that river, entered 
the Mississippi in February 
(1682). The weather was 
" bitter cold," and the river 
full of floating ice ; but La 
Salle started with his com- 
pany on his perilous voyage. 
Nine weeks later he reached 
the sunny waters of the Gulf 
of Mexico. 

There he set up a rude 
wooden cross, on which he 
fastened a metal plate bear- 
ing the arms of France. ^ 
Then with volleys of musketry and loud shouts of '' God save the 
King!" La Salle took possession of the vast territory watered 
by the Mississippi and the streams which flow into it. To that 
region of unknown extent — twice as large as France, Spain, and 
Germany united — he gave the name of Louisiana, in honor of 




La Salle taking Possession of 
Louisiana 



1 Arms of France : a shield decorated with representations of the heads of Hlies (here 
resembling small crosses). The latest French life of La Salle says he fastened the arms of 
France to a post and erected a cross beside it. 



1701-1718] MOBILE AND NEW ORLEANS 1 13 

Louis XIV, then the reigning sovereign of France. So the " Grand 
Monarch," as he called himself, boasted that he held the heart of 
the American continent. 

132. The Founding of Mobile and New Orleans. Many years 
later John Law, an enterprising Scotchman, got permission from 
France to establish a colony in Louisiana. Law expected to find 
rich mines of gold and silver, and every needy and greedy French- 
man who could manage to scrape a few dollars together wanted 
to buy stock in the company. The speculation failed and made 
thousands beggars. 

Still the undertaking had some permanent results for good. A 
Frenchman named Iberville had established a colony at Mobile, 
on the Gulf of Mexico (1701). His brother, Bienville, was ap- 
pointed governor of Louisiana. It was hoped that he would send 
shiploads of treasure back to France. He sent nothing of the 
sort, but did far better, for he founded the city of New Orleans 
(1 7 1 8). The settlement consisted of a few log huts built around 
a fort ; it was destined to become the commercial metropolis of 
the great Mississippi Valley, — a valley capable of producing food 
enough to feed all the civilized races of the globe. 

133. The English hold the Atlantic coast, but the French hold 
the interior of the country. Meanwhile, what had the English 
colonists in the East done toward exploring and occupying the 
country .? Practically nothing. They simply continued to hold their 
first settlement on the Atlantic coast ; in other words, the east- 
ern edge of what is now the United States. The long range of 
the Allegheny Mountains, rising like an immense wall, seemed to 
hem them in. 

But the French, starting from Canada, had obtained a firm grip 
upon the interior of the country. They held the Mississippi, and 
with it they claimed to hold the great central West, extending 
from the Alleghenies to the base of the Rocky Mountains. 

What they held they meant to keep ; La Salle showed that 
when he built forts at the most important points of his explo- 
rations, all the way down from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of 
Mexico. (Map, p. iii.) 



114 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1G89-169^ 



T^E French and Indian Wars (1689- 1763) 

134. War with the French; Attacks on Schenectady, Haver- 
hill, and Deerfield ; the French lose Acadia. In Europe the French 
and the English had long been enemies. The desire of each to 
get possession of America did not make them any better friends. 
In 1689 war broke out between the rival colonists. With intervals 
of peace that contest ^ extended over seventy years (1689-1763). 




SCALE OF MILES 



Map illustrating the French and Indian Wars 
(I 689-1 763) 

In Europe the same war was fought between England and France, 
and it lasted even longer. 

In the first or '' King William's War" (1689-1697) the French 
Governor of Canada sent an expedition of French and Indians to 
attack the colonies on and near the Hudson. They secretly came 
upon the little village of Schenectady, New York, at midnight. 
They burned it and massacred most of the inhabitants. But some 
Indians who made an attack on Haverhill, Massachusetts, met 

1 This war and those that follow were simply the American side of a hundred years' 
struggle waged in Europe and Asia, between the English and the French, for the posses- 
sion of India and of the continent of America. See Seeley's " Expansion of England," 
Lecture II. 



1697-1748] TAKING OF LOUISBURG 1 15 

their match. A small party of savages carried off Mrs. Hannah 
Dustin captive, intending to sell her as a slave in Canada. She 
got possession of some tomahawks, and with the help of another 
woman and a boy, also prisoners, she split the heads of the sleep- 
ing Indians, and carried home their scalps, ten in all, in triumph. 
A regiment of such women would have soon made both French 
and Indians beg for peace. During this war an expedition from 
Boston, led by Sir William Phips of Maine, captured the French 
fort at Port Royal, Acadia, now Nova Scotia, but it was returned 
to the French the next year (169 1). 

In the second or '' Queen Anne's War" (1702-1713) a party 
of French and Indians burned Deerfield, Massachusetts. On the 
other hand, the New Englanders recaptured Port Royal and named 
it Annapolis in honor of Queen Anne of England. They also 
undertook an expedition against Quebec, which ended in ship- 
wreck and terrible loss of life. When peace was made (17 13) the 
English not only kept Annapolis but got possession of Acadia, 
which they now named Nova Scotia. 

135. The Third War ; Taking of Louisburg. There was a long 
interval of peace, and then the third or '' King George's War " 
broke out (i 744-1 748). During this contest the New England 
colonists gained a remarkable victory. France had spent millions 
in fortifying Louisburg, on Cape Breton Island, so that it might 
guard the entrance to the Gulf and the River St. Lawrence.^ 
The fort was of immense extent and had walls of solid masonry 
thirty feet high. Colonel Pepperrell of Maine, with a force of a 
few thousand Yankee farmers and fishermen, set out to capture 
this great stronghold. The expedition seemed so foolhardy that 
even Benjamin Franklin ^ ridiculed it. Though himself a native 

1 France needed the fortified harbor of Louisburg as a shelter for her vessels, as a protec- 
tion to her commerce and fisheries, and for maintaining free communication with Canada. 

2 Benjamin Franklin, bom in Boston, 1706; died in Philadelphia, full of years and 
honors, in 1790. He was the son of a soap boiler and candle maker. He learned the printer's 
trade and went to Philadelphia, where, in 1729, he became editor and proprietor of the 
Pennsylvania Gazette. Later, he entered public Hfe, went abroad as agent of the colonies, 
and rendered the whole country his debtor by his eminent services in the cause of American 
independence. The succeeding pages of this history will show that his name deservedly 
ranks with that of Washington as one of the founders of the United States. For a fulj 
account of him see " Benjamin Franklin's Life by Himself" [Ginn and Company]. 



Il6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1745-1754 

of New England, and full of faith in New England grit, he wrote 
to his brother that Louisburg was far too hard a nut for their 
teeth to crack. But, with the help of a British fleet, Pepperrell 
and his men, after six weeks' fighting, did crack it (1745), and 
Boston fairly went wild over the great news.^ The victory had 
two important results : 

1. It broke up the nest of French pirates at Louisburg, and 
so put an end to their capturing and plundering Massachusetts 
fishing vessels. 

2. It made the New England people feel that they could beat 
the French even when they had granite walls to protect them. 



w^ '^ 




Taking of Louisburg — Dragging the Guns across the Marsh 

At the end of the war England gave Louisburg back to France ; 
but she could not give back the confidence the French once had 
in the famous fortress. The '' Yankees " had taken it ; and what 
men have done, they can do again. 

136. The Fourth or "French and Indian War"; the Great 
Line of French Forts. The fourth and final struggle (i 754-1 763) 
was known as the '* French and Indian War." It was fought to 
decide the great question whether the French or the English 
should control the continent of America. 

The English outnumbered the French fifteen to one ; but the 
French had got possession of the two chief rivers of the country, 
— the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi (§§48, 131, 133). To 

1 Notwithstanding the bravery of Pepperrell and his gallant little force, it is not likely 
that they, even with the help of the British fleet, could have taken Louisburg had that fort 
possessed an efficient garrison and a competent comiftander. It had neither, and hence it 
fell. England was astonished, and the King was so delighted that he made the American 
commander a baronet, — Sir William Pepperrell. He was the first native of New England 
who received that honor ; though William Phips (§ 1 34) had been knighted more than fifty 
years before 



1753-1754] THE OHIO COMPANY 1 17 

clinch their hold they built fort after fort, until they had a line 
extending from Quebec to the Great Lakes, and thence down 
the Wabash, the Illinois, and the Mississippi to the Gulf. (Map, 
p. III.) Where many of those and succeeding forts stood, flour- 
ishing cities have since risen, which still keep the old French 
or Indian names of Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Natchez, New 
Orleans. That shows the forethought of the French explorers. 
When they selected a spot to fortify, they seem to have thought 
not only of its military strength but also of the possibilities of its 
growth as a center of business and commerce. 

137. The Ohio Company; Governor Dinwiddle's Messenger. 
But at last the English began to open their eyes to the danger 
which threatened them. They saw that unless they moved into 
the rich territory west of the Alleghenies, they would lose the 
heart of the continent and the French would have everything 
their own way. To prevent such a disaster the Ohio Company 
was formed in Virginia (1748), to plant a colony of emigrants on 
the east bank of the upper Ohio.^ 

The French at once resolved to stop the movement, and began 
a new line of forts, extending southward from Erie on Lake 
Erie to the point where the Allegheny and the Monongahela 
rivers unite to form the Ohio. That point at the head of inland 
navigation was called the '' Gateway of the West." Both parties 
knew its importance ; both meant to seize and fortify it. (Map, 
p. 114.) 

Governor Dinwiddle of Virginia determined (1753) to send a 
messenger to Venango, — one of the new French forts, — and 
warn off the intruders. ^ Whoever undertook such a journey must 
travel at least three hundred miles on foot, climb a succession 
of mountain ranges, cross rivers as best he could, and risk his 
life among hostile Indians. 

1 The first Ohio Company (1748), whose chief manager^ Lawrence Washington, brother 
of George Washington, died in 1752, received a grant of 500,000 acres on the east bank of 
the Ohio, between the Great Kanawha and the Monongahela rivers. The region is now 
embraced by West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania. 

2 The English maintained that they had purchased the Ohio Valley region of the Iroquois 
Indians, who declared that they had conquered it many years before. There is no evidence 
that the Iroquois had any right to sell the land. 



1 8 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1753 



The Governor finally decided to intrust this difficult and dan- 
gerous work to the brother of the late chief manager of the 
Ohio Company, a young man of twenty-one, who was a skill- 
ful surveyor, knew all 
about life in the wilder- 
ness, and did not know 
what fear meant. The 
name of that young 
man may still be read 
on a lofty limestone 
cliff of the Natural 
Bridge in Virginia, 
where, when a lad, he 
climbed up higher than 
any of his compan- 
ions dared to go, and 
cut it with his hunt- 
ing knife, — GEORGE 
WASHINGTON.! 

138. Results of 
Washington's Journey. 

Washington perfonned 
the journey (175 3), but 
the French commander 
sent back an unsatis- 
factory reply to the Governor. The expedition had, however, two 
important results : 

I. It impressed Washington with the immense value and fu- 
ture growth of the Ohio Valley. In time he came to hold more 
land there than any one else in that section. Throughout his 

1 George Washington was born at Bridges Creek, Virginia, on the Potomac, about fifty 
miles south of where Washington now stands. His father, soon after the birth of George, 
removed to an estate on the Rappahannock opposite Fredericksburg. Nothing remains of 
the old homestead at Bridges Creek ; but a stone slab marks the site of the house, and bears 
this inscription: "Here, the nth of February, 1732, George Washington was born." Dif- 
ference of reckoning now makes the nth the 22d. Washington's great-grandfather, John 
Washington, emigrated from England to Virginia about 1657. It is generally thought that 
he belonged to one of the old Cavalier families that fought in behalf of Charles I during the 




Washington before the Revolution 



1754] THE ALBANY CONVENTION 119 

life he used his influence in every way to build roads and canals 
to open up and settle the '' West," or what was then known 
by that name. 

2, The French commander's answer was plainly a challenge 
to fight. The Ohio Company (§ 137) accepted the challenge and 
began to build a fort at the ''Gateway of the West" (§ 137); 
but the French drove them out, finished building it, and named 
it Fort Duquesne in honor of the French governor of Canada. 
Washington then began a small fort, which he called Fort Neces- 
sity, about forty miles south of Fort Duquesne ; but the French 
came in overwhelming force, and compelled 
him to surrender it. (Map, p. 114.) 

139. The Albany Convention; Benjamin 
Franklin's Snake; Franklin's Plan. A con- 
vention of the Northern colonies met at Albany 
(1754) to consider what should be done. The 
Iroquois Indians of New York (Map, p. 34), 
who were stanch friends of the English, sent 
some of their people to the convention. They warned the colo- 
nists that if they did not take up arms, the French would drive 
every Englishman out of the country. 

Benjamin Franklin, who came from Philadelphia to attend the 
convention, printed a rude wood cut in his paper, the Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette^ which told its own story. It represented the col- 
onies in the form of a snake cut in pieces, with the motto 
''Unite. or die." Franklin proposed a plan for binding the 
colonies together for self -protection, but it was not adopted. 
The English government rejected it as too democratic, though 
the colonists thought it fiot democratic enough. Even then, the 

English Civil War. George Washington received a fair English education, but nothing more. 
He excelled in athletic sports and horsemanship, and was fond of life in the woods. He 
became a skillful surveyor, and found the work highly profitable. By the death of Lawrence 
Washington, an elder brother, George came eventually into possession of the estate of Mount 
Vernon (of several thousand acres, with many slaves), on the Potomac, a short distance below 
the present city of Washington. Washington's mission to the French commander at Venango 
first brought him into' public notice. In 1759 ^^ married Mrs. Martha Custis, a wealthy 
widow. From this time until his death, in 1799, he will stand prominent in this history. For 
a full account of Washington, see " Washington and His Country" [Ginn and Company]. 




120 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1755 



authorities in England " dreaded American union as the key- 
stone of independence." ^ 

140. Braddock^s Defeat; Washington. The next year (1755) 
General Braddock came from England with troops to drive the 
French and Indians out of the Ohio Valley. He advanced from 
Alexandria, Virginia, across the mountains to attack F'ort Du- 
quesne (§ 1 38). (Map, p. 1 14.) Washington accompanied him. All 

went well until the British army 
had nearly reached the fort. Sud- 
denly a savage yell rose from the 
woods through which the men were 
marching, followed by a murder- 
ous volley of bullets which killed 
many. The English general was 
mortally wounded. A panic set 
in ; his men ran like sheep, and 
were shot down as they ran. A 
few days later Braddock died, 
and was secretly buried at night. 
Colonel Washington read the fu- 
neral service over his grave by 
torchlight. 

It was said in Virginia that 
Braddock lost the victory, but 
that Washington's coolness and 
courage saved the army. ■ A Vir- 
ginia clergyman, who preached on the disaster, said he believed 
that " Providence had saved Washington for some important serv- 
ice to his country." 

141. The Acadians; Pitt and Victory; Fort Duquesne taken; 
the French driven to Canada. In the course of the next two 
years the English took the French province of New Brunswick, 
and drove many thousands of Acadians, or French inhabitants 
of Nova Scotia, into exile. This act caused much suffering and 




Braddock's Defeat 



1 Part of Franklin's plan was that the colonies should have a president appointed by the 
crown, and a council chosen by the people. 



1759] FALL OF QUEBEC 121 

it seemed a cruel thing at the time, but apparently the English 
had to do it.^ 

William Pitt, later known as Lord Chatham, had now become 
the chief councilor in the English government. He was one of 
the truest friends that America ever had. He sent fresh troops 
to fight for the colonists, and the English recaptured and held 
the famous fort at Louisburg (§ 1 35). 

A second expedition, in which Colonel Washington again took 
part (§ 140), attacked Fort Duquesne. The fort was taken and 
named Fort Pitt, in honor of the distinguished statesman who 
had made the victory possible. To-day we know the place as 
Pittsburgh, the center of the most extensive iron works in the 
United States. 

The victory gave the English the control of the Ohio country, 
and drove the French back to Canada. 

142. Fall of Quebec (1759); Pontiac's Conspiracy. The French 
had lost Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, Canada (Map. p. in), 
but they still held the formidable stronghold of Quebec. This 
fortress — the "Gibraltar of America" — was built on a lofty 
rock, overlooking the St. Lawrence. Montcalm, one of the ablest 
and noblest generals of France, was commander of the fortress. 
General Wolfe, an English soldier of equal character and courage, 
resolved to wrest it from him. He had only a few thousand men, 
a part of whom were American colonists, but every one of these 
men- believed in him heart and soul. They believed, too, just as 
much in the '' Hot Stuff " which Wolfe gave the enemy .2 

The death struggle came when Wolfe, with his troops, climbed 
up from the river to the top of the lofty plain called the Heights 

1 Longfellow has made this exile of the 7000 Acadians the subject of his poem of 
" Evangeline." Burke called the expulsion " an inhuman act," but recent investigation 
seems to show that the English were justified in driving out the French, since they positively 
refused to take the oath of allegiance to England, and their sons were secretly fighting 
against her (see Parkman's " Montcalm and Wolfe," I, 234-284). 

2 Among the rousing battle songs sung by Wolfe's men was one about " Hot Stuff," which 
began with this appeal : 

" Come, each death-daring dog who dares venture his neck, 
Come, follow the hero that goes to Quebec ; 

And ye that love fighting shall soon have enough ; 

Wolfe commands us, my boys ; we shall give them ^ Hot Stuff.' " 



122 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1759 



of Abraham 1 and attacked the French (1759). In the terrible 
battle both commanders found the truth of the words, ''The 
paths of glory lead but to the grave," ^ which Wolfe quoted to 
his brother officers on the eve of the contest; for both were 
killed. They met death as only heroes can. The English gen- 
eral exclaimed when he heard that his men had gained the 
hard-fought field, '' Now, God be praised, I die in peace." The 

French leader, when told that he must 
soon breathe his last, said, '' So much 
the better; I shall not live to see the 
surrender of Quebec." 

The fall of Quebec practically ended 
the war ; but four years later, Pontiac, 
chief of a tribe of Michigan Indians and 
friendly to the French, rose in revolt. 
He formed a secret league with other 
tribes, — the Iroquois, of New York 
(§40), refusing to join, — to drive the 
English from the whole Western coun- 
try. A young Indian girl betrayed the 
plot to the commander of the fort at 
Detroit. Many white settlers were mas- 
sacred, but Pontiac's attack failed, and 
he himself was forced to beg for peace. 
The Indians did not make another gen- 
eral attempt to reconquer the land which 
the white man had taken from them until Tecumseh rose (§ 225) 
nearly fifty years later. 

143. What the French and Indian War settled; the Treaty 
of 1763. The battle of Quebec was '' one of the great battles of 
the world," for it marked a turning point in American history. 
When Wolfe with his brave men climbed in the darkness up the 
rocky heights back of that great fortress (1759), the whole West, 

1 The Heights of Abraham extend for three miles along the St. Lawrence southwest of 
Quebec. The French believed that these Heights were inaccessible from the river. 

2 Gray's " Elegy written in a Country Churchyard," 1749. " Gentlemen," said Wolfe to 
his officers, " I would rather have written those lines than take Quebec." 




The British climbing 

THE Heights of 

Abraham 



1759-1763] THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH WARS 123 

from Quebec to the Mississippi and New Orleans, belonged to 
France. (Map, p. 11 1 .) 

When the sun went down the following day, France had lost 
her hold on America forever. By the treaty of peace of 1763 
the French king gave to England the whole of his possessions 
on this continent. Of all the magnificent territory which he 
had owned on this side the Atlantic he now had nothing left 
except a small portion of the West Indies, and two little barren 
islands (Miquelon and St. Pierre) off the coast of southern 
Newfoundland, which the English permitted him to keep, to 
dry fish on. 

The war settled the fact that America was not to be an 
appendage of France, but was to become the home of the chief 
part of the English-speaking race. Spain had owned Florida ever 
since its discovery by Ponce de Leon (§ 18). She had fought 
on the side of France against England : now that France was 
defeated Spain was forced to give up Florida to Great Britain, 
who held it for twenty years and then ceded it back to Spain 

{1783). 

Thus by the end of 1763 the British flag floated over the 
whole eastern section of this continent, from the Atlantic to the 
great river of the West, with the single exception of New Orleans, 
which, with the Louisiana territory west of the Mississippi, France 
had secretly transferred to Spain. 

Another result of the treaty of 1763 was that England (in 
order to make Spain a rival of France) now recognized Spain's 
claim to the great province of Louisiana. This made the Missis- 
sippi the western boundary of the American colonies, so that 
none of them could henceforth claim territory extending to the 
Pacific. (Maps, pp. 1 1 1 , 1 70.) 

144. Results of the Four English and French Wars. The four 
great wars between the English and the French in this country 
(§§ 134-136) had decisive results : 

I. They united the inhabitants of the colonies — especially 
those north of the Carolinas — and inspired them with new 
strength. 



124 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1763 

2. They trained thousands of resolute men in the use of arms, 
taught them to face an enemy, and thus in a measure prepared 
them for the War of Independence not many years distant. 

3. They removed all danger of attack by the French and so 
made the colonists feel less need of British protection. 

4. They cleared the ground east of the Mississippi of rival and 
hostile forces, and left it open for our ancestors to lay — when the 
right time should come — the corner stone of the United States. 

General State of the Country in 1763 

145. The Thirteen Colonies in 1763; Growth of the Country; 
Number and Character of the Population. The growth of the 
colonies from the first permanent English settlements in 1607 
(§ 46) and 1620 (§ 73) to the end of the French and Indian 
War, 1763 (§ 143), had been slow but steady. When a gardener 
finds that a healthy young plant shows but little progress, he 
is not discouraged. He says cheerfully, ''It is all right; it is 
making roots, and will last the longer." For a century and a 
half the colonies had been ''making roots," — getting that firm 
hold so necessary for the future growth of a free and power- 
ful nation. 

In 1763, when England made peace with France (§ 143), 
the entire population of the thirteen colonies probably did not 
greatly exceed half that of New York City now. Of this about 
one sixth were negro slaves ; every colony had some, but by far 
the larger part were owned south of the Potomac. The popu- 
lation was nearly all east of the Alleghenies. West of those 
mountains the country was an almost unbroken wilderness. The 
majority of the colonists, especially in Virginia and New Eng- 
land, were English or of English descent. Next in number came 
the Germans in Pennsylvania (§ 119), the Dutch in New York 
(§ 59), the Irish and Scotch-Irish (§ 92), who had settled to 
some extent in all of the colonies, and finally, the descendants 
of the Huguenots, or French Protestants, most numerous in South 
Carolina (§ 115). 



17(33] LANGUAGE 125 

146. Language; Religion; Social Rank; Cities; Trade. Nearly 
all of the colonists spoke English, and nearly all were Protes- 
tants. ^ Most of them had sprung from the same social class in 
the mother country. A witty Frenchman of that day said that 
the people of England reminded him of a barrel of their own 
beer — froth on the top, dregs at the bottom, but clear and 
sound in the middle. That energetic, industrious, self-respecting 
middle class furnished the greater part of the emigrants to this 
country. 

In none of the colonies was there a titled aristocracy holding 
land and established by law, as in Europe. In Virginia, how- 
ever, the great plantations were usually handed down to the eldest 
son, after the English fashion. America had men of intelligence 
an'd wealth, but no lords ; she had learned and influential clergy- 
men, but, outside of certain royal provinces (§ 147), she had 
no bishops. 

Philadelphia, New York, Boston, "and Charleston were the 
chief cities, yet even Philadelphia, then the largest, had only 
about twenty thousand inhabitants, and not one of these cities 
published a daily paper and did not until more than twenty 
years later.^ 

The foreign trade of the country was prosperous. The South 
exported tobacco, rice, indigo, tar, and turpentine ; the North, 
fish, lumber, furs, and iron. New England built and sold so 
many sailing vessels that the ship carpenters of Great Britain 
complained that the Americans were ruining their business. 

Manufactories were comparatively few. England treated her 
colonies in a broader and more generous spirit than any other 
nation in Europe, but she wished, so far as practicable, to com- 
pel the Americans to buy all their goods from her. On this 
account she endeavored to prevent them from weaving a yard of 
fine woolen cloth, casting an iron pot, or printing a copy of the 

1 The greatest number of Catholics were in Maryland ; there they may have constituted 
a fifteenth of the population. 

2 The Boston News Lettc}; 1704 (weekly), was the first regular newspaper published jn 
America. The American Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia, 1784, is said to have been the 
first daily. 



126 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1763 

Bible. Furthermore, England passed laws, like the Navigation 
Acts (§ 54), to compel the colonists to confine all their most profit- 
able commerce to English ports. On the other hand, England 
paid the colonists liberal premiums or bounties for exporting such 
products as indigo, and *' naval stores " such as hemp, tar, pitch, 
turpentine, rosin, and masts for vessels. Besides this England 
bought all the tobacco they wanted to sell and also purchased 
a good deal of their iron. The people of this country did not 
openly dispute the right, or supposed right, of the mother country 
to restrict their trade ; but they smuggled goods, especially tea, 
wines, silks, and other luxuries, from Europe ; and the custom- 
house officers at Philadelphia, New York, and Boston winked at 
the landing of such articles. 

147. Government of the Colonies; Law; Unity of the People. 
The colonies did not all have the same form of government. 
Connecticut and Rhode Island held charters, by which they prac- 
tically managed their own affairs in their own way. Eight of the 
remaining colonies were royal provinces ^ ruled by governors ap- 
pointed by the King ; the three others, Pennsylvania with Delaware 
(§ 120) and Maryland (§ 100), were governed by their proprietors, 
the descendants of William Penn and of Lord Baltimore. 

All the colonies had legislative assemblies elected by the people ; 
by means of these assemblies they levied their own taxes and had 
the chief voice in making their own laws.^ In New England all 
matters of public interest were openly and fearlessly discussed in 
town meeting; in Virginia, county meetings were held occasion- 
ally for the same .purpose. Every white man in the thirteen colo- 
nies had the right to trial by jury and to the protection given by 
the common law of England (§ 44). 

The colonists, though loyal to the King, were full of sturdy 
independence of character. Some of them adopted a flag (1775) 
on which was a rattlesnake coiled ready to strike, and the words, 

1 Massachusetts had a charter, but could make only such laws as her Governor, appointed 
by the King, saw fit to approve. 

2 The laws enacted by the colonial assemblies required the Governor's approval, except 
in Rhode Island and Connecticut, where the people elected the Governor and could legis- 
late, if they chose, without his consent. 



1763] 



LIFE AMONG THE FARMERS 



127 



''Don't tread on me"; that flag expressed what their real 
spirit had always been. Though there was but little communi- 
cation between the colonies, yet they were essentially one peo- 
ple, — they spoke the same language, they appealed for justice 
to the same general law, they held, with some few exceptions, 
the same religion. 

148. Life among the Farmers. Few of the colonists were ver}- 
rich ; fewer still were miserably poor. The mass of the people 
lived simply but comfortably. The farmhouses were generally 
built of huge timbers covered with rough, unpainted clapboards, 
often with the upper story projecting, so that in case of an attack 
•by Indians the owner could 
fire down on the savages and 
give them a reception they 
would remember. 

Usually the center of such 
houses was taken up by an 
immense open fireplace, so 
big that it was a fair ques- 
tion whether the chimney 
was built for the house or 
the house for the chimney. 
On a stormy winter's night 
there was no more cheerful sight than such a fireplace piled up 
with blazing logs, around which our forefathers and their sturdy 
families sat contentedly, watching the flames as they leaped up 
the chimney.^ But these roaring fires meant work. During the 
day the woodchopper seemed to hear them forever crying '' More, 
more," and if by ill chance they went out at night, there were 
no matches to rekindle them. That had to be done by striking 
a spark with flint and steel, catching it on a bit of old half- 
burnt rag, and then blowing that spark to a flame. If we are 
tempted to envy our ancestors their cosy winter evenings, probably 
few would envy them their winter mornings in case the fire failed 
to keep over. 

1 Read the description of such a fireside in Whittier's delightful poem of " Snow-Bound." 




A Farmer's Fireside 



128 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1763 

The cooking was done either over or before these open fires, or 
in huge brick ovens. The food was very simple, . — often nothing 
more than corn-meal mush with molasses for breakfast, — but 
there was plenty of it, and no lack of healthy appetite. 

The farmer bought little at the store. He raised his own 
food ; his sheep furnished wool, and his wife and daughters spun 
and wove it into stout ''homespun" cloth. In such households 
there were few idle days, but many happy ones ; and for recre- 
ation the young people had sleighing par- 
/.>i^--- ^-,^»-4r— ties, husking bees,^ general trainings,^ and 
I y other merrymakings. 

149. Life in the Cities and on the Great 
Virginia Plantations. In the cities and large 
M \ towns, and on the great plantations at the 

lpi^)ttji|IS3i!: : South, there was a good deal of luxury. 
gjj^^^^^^^p;:/ Rich men like Washington, who was one 
jljS^I^^^^^M of the wealthiest landholders in the coun- 
'm\WBKf^^g^ try, sometimes lived in stately mansions, 
'H ""w^ff^Sflfi furnished . with solid oak and mahogany im- 
1 i^^^r^^^^ ported from England. Their tables shone 
'-— ^^ with silver plate and sparkled with costly 

A Virginia Planter's wines. They owned their black servants in- 
^^^^ stead of hiring them. Gentlemen, when in 

full dress, wore three-cornered cocked hats, long velvet coats, 
lace ruffles at their wrists, knee breeches,^ white silk stockings, 
and shoes with silver buckles. They kept their hair long, pow- 
dered it white, and tied it back in a twist or a queue with a black 
silk ribbon. 

Ladies wore gowns of brocade^ and rich silk almost stiff 
enough to stand alone. They also powdered their hair, so that 

1 Husking bees : at these gatherings the young people met to husk com ; there was 
usually quite as much fun as work on such occasions. 

2 General trainings : meetings for military drill. They occurred once or twice a year, and 
were regarded as holidays, 

3 Knee breeches : breeches coming down to the knees ; before the introduction of trousers 
they were worn by men of all classes. 

4 Brocade : cloth or stuff richly embroidered with raised flowers or other figures in silk 
or gold and silver thread. 



1763] LIFE IN THE COLONIES ' 129 

all people of fashion, whether young or old, looked stately and 
venerable. 

In general, life moved in somewhat the same stately way : 
there was no hurrying to catch trains, no rush and scramble for 
electric cars, no flashing of telegrams from one end of the coun- 
try to the other, no newsboys shouting daily papers, no instan- 
taneous photographs, no pushing and hustling in overcrowded 
streets. On Sunday every one, or practically every one, went to 
church ; and, in New England, if a man was absent the minister 
of the parish told him, in a way that could not be mistaken, that 
he must know the reason why. 

150. Travel; Letters; Hospitality; Severe Laws. People sel- 
dom traveled. When they did, they generally preferred going by 
water if possible, in order to avoid the bad roads. But as such 
traveling was wholly in sailing vessels, the time when a man 
reached his destination depended alto- 
gether on the wind, and the wind made 
no promises. Knowing this fact, some 

chose to go by land. To accommodate . ■'*,^^'^w'^''':-'2r-^^^x'...,^x^-^ 
these venturesome people a lumbering the '^Flying MACHmE" 
covered wagon ran once a week be- 
tween New York and Philadelphia, traveling at the rate of about 
three miles an hour. Later (1766), an enterprising individual put 
on a wagon which actually made the trip of ninety miles in two 
days. On account of its speed it was advertised as the '' Flying 
Machine"; the cheaper conveyances, which did not "fly," took 
a day longer to make the journey. In the wet season of the year 
the passengers often worked their passage as well as paid for it, 
for they were frequently called on to get out and pry the wagon 
out of the mud with fence rails. Sometimes a wheel gave out and 
the wagon stuck fast. 

The expense of carrying the mails made postage so high that 
but few letters were written. These were rarely prepaid ; and as a 
charge of twenty-five cents on a single letter was not very uncom- 
mon, most persons preferred that their friends should think of 
them often but write to them seldom. 




I30 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1763 



Yet if people rarely wrote to each other and traveled but little, 
they were quite sure of being hospitably entertained along the 
way when they did venture from home. This was especially the 
case in Virginia. 

The rich planters in that section considered a guest a prize. 
He brought the latest news and the newest gossip. It was no 
strange thing for a planter to send out one of his negroes to 
station himself by the roadside to watch for the coming of some 
respectable-looking stranger on horseback. Then the servant, smil- 
ing and bowing, begged him to turn aside and stop over night 

at his master's mansion. There 
he was sure to be treated to the 
best there was in the house ; and 
as no temperance society had then 
come into existence, the best, both 
North and South, always meant 
plenty to drink as well as plenty 
to eat, followed perhaps by a fox 
hunt, or some other sport, the 
next day. 

But if the times were hospit- 
able, they were also somewhat 
rough and even brutal. A trifling 
offense would often send a man 
to the stocks for meditation, and 
something more serious to the 
pillory, where the passers-by might stop to pelt him with a hand- 
ful of mud, a rotten apple, or something worse. Imprisonment 
for debt was a common occurrence ; petty thieves and disorderly 
persons were publicly whipped, while men guilty of highway rob- 
bery or murder were paraded through the principal streets and 
then hanged before the crowd. 

151. Education; Books; Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin 
Franklin. Most of the colonists, especially in New England, 
where free schools had long been established by law (§80), 
could read and write fairly well ; and a small number, particularly 




How THEY SPENT THEIR TiME 

IN THE Pillory and in 
THE Stocks 



1763] FRANKLIN'S ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTS 1 31 

clergymen, were highly educated. Very few books were published, 
but the rich imported a stock of the best English authors, and, 
what is more, they read them. 

The two ablest American writers of that day were the Rev. 
Jonathan Edwards of Connecticut, who later became a resident 
of Massachusetts, and Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston, but 
who soon became a citizen of Philadelphia. Edwards wrote his 
great work '' On the Freedom of the Will " for that small number 
of readers who like a book which forces them to think as well as 
read. Not many can grasp Edwards's thought about the ''Will," 
but we can all understand how nobly he used his own will when 
he made these two resolutions : (i) ^^ To do whatever I think to be 
my diityT (2) '' To live with all my might while I do live!' 

Franklin's best known work was his Almanac, commonly called 
'' Poor Richard's Almanac," ^ which he published for many years. 
It was full of shrewd, practical wit and wisdom, and it suited 
a hard-working people. Men who had begun life with no help 
but such as they got from their own hands and their own brains 
liked to read such sayings as these: ^^ Diligence is the mother 
of good luck'' ^' He that can have patience ca7i have what he 
wiliy ^^ Heaven helps those who help themselves!' Thousands 
of young men learned these maxims by heart, put them in prac- 
tice, and found their reward in the prosperity and independence 
to which they led. 

152. Franklin's Electrical Experiments. But Franklin did not 
confine himself to writing ; he was also greatly interested in scien- 
tific experiments. Everybody has noticed that the fur of a cat's 
back, when stroked vigorously the wrong way on a winter's night, 
will send out a multitude of electric sparks. Franklin, who never 
minded the cat's claws, asked himself. Are these sparks the same 
as the flashes of lightning seen in a thundershower t He resolved 
to find out. To do this he sent up a kite during a shower, and fast- 
ened a door key near the end of the string. Touching his knuckle 

1 Because Franklin represents a curious old fellow, whom he calls " Poor Richard," 
as uttering the sayings which made the almanac famous. Franklin later wrote his " Auto- 
biography." See Montgomery and Trent's " Franklin" [Ginn and Company]. 



132 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1607-I76a 

to the key, he got an electric spark from it. This, and other ex- 
periments, convinced him that his conjecture was right ; electricity 
and lightning, said he, are one and the same thing. 

That discovery, simple as it now seems, made Franklin famous. 
When he went to England on business for the colonies he needed 
no introduction, — everybody had heard of the American who 
had found the '' key to the clouds " and to electrical science as 
well. Even George III, though he heartily hated Franklin for 
his independent spirit, actually put up a bungling kind of Franklin 
lightning rod — one with a ball instead of a point — on his palace 
in London. 

To-day we light our cities, propel our street cars, some of our 
motor cars, the trolleys on our great network of electric roads, 
drive machinery of various kinds, ring our fire alarms, and send 
our messages across continents, under oceans, and through the 
air, by this mysterious power. We owe the practical beginning 
of much of this to Franklin. He said, '' There are no bounds . . . 
to the force mhn may raise and use m the electrical way!' In 
view of what is now being done in this ''electrical way," the 
words of the Philadelphia printer, philosopher, and statesman — 
written more than a hundred years ago — read like a prophecy. 

153. General Summary. The thirteen colonies were settled, 
mainly by the English, between 1607 and 1733, — Virginia was 
the first colony founded (1607), Massachusetts the second (Plym- 
outh, 1620; Boston, 1630), Georgia (1733) the last. During the 
closing seventy years of this period (1689-1763) the colonists 
were engaged nearly half of the time in wars with the French of 
Canada, who claimed the West by right of exploration. 

In these wars many Indian tribes (but not the Iroquois of 
New York) fought for the French. The colonists, with the aid of 
England, gained the victory, and thus obtained possession of the 
country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Up to that time 
(1763) the people had been growing in prosperity, in intelligence, 
and in the determination to maintain all those rights which the 
King had originally granted them by his written charters, and to 
which, as English colonists, they were justly entitled {§44)0 




Benjamin Franklin 



!33 



IV 

•■* Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, 
FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES." — Motion made ill the Continental Con- 
gress at Philadelphia, June 7, 1776, by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, 
seconded by John Adains of Massachusetts. 

THE REVOLUTION • THE CONSTITUTION^ 

(1 763-1 789) 

THE COLONISTS RESIST TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION, 1764-1775 • 
THEY MAKE WAR AGAINST ENGLAND IN DEFENSE OF THEIR RIGHTS 
AS ENGLISH SUBJECTS, 1775-JULY 4, 1776 • THEY DECLARE THEM- 
SELVES INDEPENDENT, JULY 4, 1776 • THE PEOPLE OF THE 
UNITED STATES ADOPT THE CONSTITUTION, 1787-1788 

154. American Commerce; the New King, George III; how he 
interfered with Trade. Up to the close of the war by which Eng- 
land had compelled the French to give up their hold on America 
(1763) the people of this country had prospered. During that 
war (§ 143), and for a long time before it, the laws which for- 
bade the colonists to trade with any country except Great Britain 
(§§ 54, 146) had not been enforced. The New Englanders had 
made a great deal of money by trading with the French and the 

1 Reference Books. ( The Revolution.) A. B. Hart's " Formation of the Union," 
ch. 3-4 ; G. E. Howard's " Preliminaries of the Revolution," ch. 3-18 ; C. H. Van 
Tyne's " The American Revolution," ch. 1-17 ; A. B. Hart's" American History by 
Contemporaries," H, ch. 21-35; A. B. Hart's "Source Book," c .. 9; J. Fiske's 
"War of Independence," ch. 4-8 ; H. C. Lodge's" The Story of the Revolution," 
2 vols. ; W. C. Bryant and Gay's " United States " (revised edition), III, ch. 13-24; 
IV, ch. 1-4. 

{The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.) A. B. Hart's " Formation 
of the Union," ch. 5-7 ; A. B. Hart's " American History by Contemporaries," 
III, ch. 6-12; A. B. Hart's "Source Book," ch. 10; A. C. McLaughlin's "The 
Confederation and the Constitution," ch. 3-18 ; J. Fiske's " The Critical Period of 
American History," ch. 3-7 ; W. C. Bryant and Gay's" United States " (revised edi- 
tion), IV, ch. 5 ; J. B. McMaster's " United States," I, pp. 436-502 ; J. Schouler's 
"United States," I, ch. i. See also the classified List of Books in the Appendix. 

IJ4 



1763] THE KING PROPOSES TO TAX THE COLONIES 135 

Spanish West Indies — sending them lumber and fish, and bring- 
ing back molasses and sugar from the French islanders, and kegs 
of silver dollars from the Spaniards. 

The new king, George III (1760), resolved to enforce the 
English laws and so break up this profitable commerce. He 
was conscientious but narrow-minded, obstinate, and at times 
crazy.i He stationed ships of war along the American coast to 
stop trade with the French and the Spaniards with whom Eng- 
land was at war. Moreover, in Boston and other large towns, 
the King's officers, armed with general warrants called "Writs 
of Assistance," began to break into men's houses and shops 
and search them for smuggled goods. ^ They did not ask for 
proof of guilt ; they entered and searched when and where they 
pleased. New England saw her trade broken up. It began to 
look as though the King meant to ruin every merchant and ship- 
builder in the country. James Otis,^ of Boston, made a power- 
ful speech against these '' Writs of Assistance," but his appeal 
was in vain. 

155. The King proposes to tax the Colonies; Object of the 
Tax; Protest of the Americans. This, however, was only the 
beginning of evil. The cost of the late war with France (§ 143) 
had been enormous, and English taxpayers protested against pay- 
ing out more money. But the King determined to send at least 
ten thousand troops to America, to protect, as he said, the colonies 
against the Indians and the French. 

In order to raise money to pay these soldiers, whom the Ameri- 
cans did not want, George III proposed an entirely new measure 
— that was to levy a direct tax on the people of this country. 

1 The King had his first attack of insanity — a mild one — in 1765, while the Stamp Act 
was under discussion. In 1788 he felt that his mind was seriously affected; bursting into 
tears, he exclaimed that " he wished to God he might die, for he was going mad." He soon 
became so. 

2 In an ordinary search warrant the person applying to the magistrate for it must swear 
that he has good reason for suspecting the person he accuses, and must have the name of 
the accused person, and no other, inserted in the warrant. In the case of the " Writs of 
Assistance " the officers wrote any name they pleased in the warrants, and then entered and 
rummaged the man's house from attic to cellar. Sometimes this was done purely out of spite. 

3 Otis held the office of advocate general under the King, but he resigned that office in 
order to attack the King's " Writs of Assistance," 



136 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1765 



The colonists believed that according to the principles of 
English law the King had no right to demand his people's 
money except by consent of the men whom they should elect 
to represent them in Parliament.^ The Americans had no such 
representatives, and, what is more, they were not permitted to 
send any. For this reason they protested against the tax. The 
best men in Parliament — such men as William Pitt (§141) 
and Edmund Burke — took the side of the colonists.^ Burke 
said that if the King undertook to tax the Americans against 
their will, he would find it as hard a job as the farmer did who 
tried to shear a wolf instead of a sheep. 
156. The Stamp Act proposed. But the 
King thought that the Americans were like 
lambs and that they would stand any amount 
of shearing without once showing their teeth. 
Accordingly Parliament made ready to pass 
the Stamp Act. 

The proposed act required that the col- 
onists should use stamps — resembling our 
postage stamps — on all important law and 
business papers, and also on pamphlets and 
newspapers. The stamps cost all the way from a half-penny 
(one cent) up to ten pounds (fifty dollars). Such a law, if en- 
forced, would tax everybody in spite of himself ; for every one 
would have to pay that tax when he bought a newspaper or an 
almanac, took out a policy of insurance on his house, or made 
his will. 

157. The Colonists resist the Stamp Act; the Stamp Act Con- 
gress, 1765. Benjamin Franklin (§ 151), who was in London as 
agent for the colonies when the Stamp Act was under discus- 
sion, fought against it with all his might, but he said he might 
as well have tried to stop the sun from setting. In Boston, 

1 The British ParUament, which sits in London, is to England what Congress is to the 
United States, It is a law that no tax shall be levied on the British people except by 
members of Parliament elected by the people as their representatives. 

2 Pitt thought it was not right to tax America; Burke thought it was not wise to 
do so. 




British Stamp 



1765] 



THE STAMP ACT 



137 



Samuel Adams, the " Father of the Revolution," ^ denounced 
the proposed act at a town meeting held in Fanueil Hall — the 
'' Cradle of Liberty," as it was called. But Parliament passed 
the law in 1765. 

Then the indignation of the American colonists blazed out 
in an unmistakable manner. In the Virginia Assembly Patrick 
Heniy^ made a speech which 
fired all hearts, and moved that 
body to take decisive action. The 
Assembly boldly resolved that it 
would not obey any act of Parlia- 
ment which forced the people to 
give money to the English gov- 
ernment without their consent 
(§155). In his speech against the 
''Writs of Assistance " James Otis 
(§ 154) had declared, ''Taxation 
without representation (§155) is 
tyranny." Finally, delegates from 
nine of the colonies met in New 
York in the " Stamp Act Con- 
gress " (1765). 

That Congress drew up a Dec- 
laration of Rights which said : 

1 . The American colonists possess the same rights as all other 
British subjects in England (§ 44). 

2. But they are not represented in the English Parliament, 
therefore Parliament has no power to tax them. When the hated 
stamps came the people destroyed them, and even the boys shouted, 
" Liberty, property, and no stamps ! " Many leading citizens now 
pledged themselves not to buy any more English goods until the 
hated Stamp Act was repealed. 









Faneuil Hall, the " Cradle of 

Liberty," as it appeared 

IN 1765 



1 Samuel Adams, one of the great leaders of the Revolution, was a member of the Massachu- 
setts House of Representatives, It was said that he had the most "radical love" of liberty of any 
member of that House ; he declared ( 1 769) , " Independent we are, and independent we will be." 

2 Patrick Henry was a prominent member of the Virginia Legislature. He was an orator 
of marvelous power and he always spoke on the side of liberty. 



138 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1766-1767 

158. Repeal of the Stamp Act; the Declaratory Act; the 
"Boston Massacre*'; Destruction of the Gaspee, When news of 
these vigorous proceedings reached London, WilUam Pitt (§ 155) 
said in Parliament : '' In my opinion, this kingdom has no right 
to lay a tax on the colonies. ... I rejoice that America has 
resisted." The Stamp Act was speedily repealed (1766). Parlia- 
ment, however, put a sting in its repeal, for it passed a Declara- 
tory Act, maintaining that the British government had the right 
to bind the colonies '' in all cases whatsoever." The Americans 
did not then see just what that declaration meant. 

They saw it, however, when the King sent troops to be quar- 
tered here at the expense of the people. New York promptly 
refused to pay the bill. Later, General Gage, the British com- 
mander at New York, came to Boston with two regiments (1768). 
He quartered his troops in the very center of the town, and they 
had frequent quarrels with the citizens. 

Finally (1770), a fight occurred in which the soldiers fired, in 
self-defense, and killed several of the people. This was called 
the '' Boston Massacre ";^ the citizens never forgot or forgave the 
blood stains then made on the snow of King Street. Later, that 
feeling showed itself in the destruction by the Rhode Islanders 
of the Gaspee, an armed British vessel stationed off the coast 
to prevent smuggling. 

159. The New Taxes; the ** Boston Tea Party." The repeal 
of the Stamp Act (§ 158) was followed by the passage of the 
Townshend Acts (1767). These acts imposed import duties on 
window glass, paper, paints, and tea, — all articles which Parlia- 
ment believed the colonists could not do without. 

The two main objects of these new taxes were : 

1. To pay the soldiers sent here by the King. 

2. To pay the governors, judges, and other officers of the 
crown in the colonies and so make them entirely dependent on 
the King and ready to do his will. 

iThe "Boston Massacre" (mas'sa-ker), in King Street, now State Street. The soldiers 
were tried for murder; John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr., of Boston, defended them. All 
but two were acquitted. They were convicted of manslaughter and branded in the hand. 



1773] THE "BOSTON TEA PARTY'* 1 39 

The Americans generally looked upon the Townshend Acts 
as a trap to get their money. Many merchants throughout the 
colonies refused to import any of the taxed articles. Others, like 
Samuel Adams (§ 157), bound themselves *'to eat nothing, drink 
nothing, wear nothing " imported from England until all the duties 
on goods should be taken off. 

Finally, Parliament decided to take off all the Townshend duties 
or taxes except one of a few cents a pound on tea. This duty 
was retained to show that England meant to tax the colonies 
without their consent. The price of the tea was put so low that 
the Americans could buy it, even with the tax on it, cheaper than 
they could smuggle it from Holland. 

But the colonists declared that they would not take the tea, 
even as a gift, if any tax whatever was demanded. None the 
less cargoes of tea were dispatched (1773) from London to New 
York, Boston, Philadelphia, Annapolis, and Charleston. 

In only one instance — that of Charleston — were the vessels 
allowed to land the tea, and then it was left to spoil. At Phila- 
delphia a committee told the captains of the tea ships that they 
would tar and feather them if they did not turn back. At New 
York the *' Sons of Liberty " took action just as decided. At 
Annapolis the Maryland people actually compelled the owner of 
the tea ship Peggy Stewart to burn his vessel, tea and all. 

Meanwhile, the case which caused the greatest excitement 
occurred at Boston. Three tea ships came into the harbor, but 
the people refused to let them unload their cargoes. The Gov- 
ernor would not let them go back . until they were unloaded, and 
the people, under the lead of Samuel Adams (§ 157), made up 
their minds to do the unloading in their own way. An immense 
meeting was held in the Old South Meeting House in regard 
to the matter, but nothing could be done. That night a band 
of citizens disguised as Indians rushed down to the wharf and 
emptied every chest of tea — nearly ^100,000 worth — into the 
harbor. A Bostonian had jokingly asked, ** Will tea mix with 
salt water ? " The patriots settled that question and the tax at 
the same time. 



I40 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1774 



1 60. Parliament closes the Port of Boston and places a 
Military Governor over the People; the First Continental Con- 
gress, 1774; Action of Massachusetts; the ** Minutemen *^ the 
Tories. When Parliament heard of the destruction of the tea 
at Boston, the wrath of the King's party rose to white heat. 

I . They closed the port of Boston 
(1774) to all trade until the people 
should pay for the tea, 
and make humble sub- 
mission to the King. 

2. They took the 
government entirely 
out of the hands of the 
people and put the col- 
ony under the rule of 
General Gage (§ 158). 
Parliament enacted two 
other arbitrary meas- 
ures ^ which completed 
what the Americans 
called the four '' In- 
tolerable Acts." 

Patrick Henry of 
Virginia (§ 157) was so 
indignant at the treat- 
ment which Massachu- 
setts received that he 
said in the Virginia Convention: *' There is no longer any room 
for hope. We must fight. I repeat it, sir ; we must/^///." Samuel 
Adams (§15 7) had planned ''Committees of Correspondence" 

1 These were the Transportation and the Quebec acts. The first gave British officers 
who were accused of committing murder — as in the case of the " Boston Massacre " — the 
right of trial in England, where, of course, everything would be in their favor. (By a law of 
a different date, Americans who committed murder, in resisting oppression, might be sent 
to England for trial, where, of course, everything would be against them.) The Quebec Act 
united the territory north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi — which the colonists 
considered theirs — with Canada. The object was to conciliate the French Canadians, and, 
if need be, to get their help in punishing the colonists. 




Samuel Adams planning the "Committees 
OF Correspondence" 



1774-1775] THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 141 

that kept the colonies informed by letters of all that was going 
on. This prepared them for united action, and in 1774 a Conti- 
nental or General Congress — the first ever held in America — 
met in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, to consider what course the 
colonies should take. 

The spirit of that Congress was unmistakable. It was per- 
fectly calm, perfectly respectful, but perfectly determined. The 
delegates who met there, of whom George Washington was one, 
did not want to have war with England ; they wanted peace — 
peace if they could get it, but justice at any price. They did 
not ask for representation in Parliament, for they saw that they 
could not be properly represented in that body 3000 miles away. 
But they did three things of great importance : 

1 . They issued a Declaration of Rights in which they demanded 
the right to levy all taxes. 

2. They organized the '' American Association " which bound 
all the colonies joining it to stop buying or using British goods 
until Parliament should repeal its unjust laws. 

3. They humbly petitioned the King to redress their wrongs. 
They might as well have petitioned the '' Great Stone Face " in 
the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 

Not long after this, Massachusetts set up a government (1775) 
quite independent of the military rule of General Gage, and made 
John Hancock, a wealthy and influential merchant of Boston, head 
of it. The colony next raised 12,000 volunteers ; a third of them 
were '' minutemen " — men ready to march or fight at a minute's 
notice. The spirit of liberty was universal ; as a South .Carolina 
paper said, '' One soul animates 3,000,000 of brave Americans, 
though extended over a long tract of 2000 miles." 

But the Carolina paper forgot the Tories, who constituted a 
third of the population. They positively refused to take up arms 
against the King. Like the patriots they were brave men ; they 
loved their country ; but they believed that the quarrel could be 
settled without drawing a sword or firing a gun. In the end the 
Tories were driven out of the United States, and the patriots 
seized their houses and lands. 



142 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1775 



I. From the Beginning of the War in 1775 by the 
Colonists in Defense of their Rights as Eng- 
lish Subjects, to the Declaration of 
Independence, July 4, 1776 

161. The British Expedition to Lexington and Concord; Paul 
Revere; the Battle; the Retreat. General Gage having learned 
that the patriots had stored a quantity of powder and provisions 
at Concord, about twenty miles from Boston, sent a secret expe- 
dition to destroy both. The soldiers had orders to go by way of 
Lexington, and there arrest Samuel Adams (§§ 157, 159) and 
John Hancock (§ 160), who were stopping with a friend in that 
village. The London papers boasted that the heads of these 

two '' rebels " would soon 
be exhibited in that city ; 
but General Gage found 
out that Adams and Han- 
cock were not the kind of 
men to lose their heads 
so easily. 

The British troops left 
Boston just before mid- 
night of April 18, 1775. 
Paul Revere, a noted Bos- 
ton patriot, was on the 
watch ; at his request two signal lanterns flashed the news abroad 
from the steeple of the Old North Church, and he galloped 
through the country giving the alarm. When he reached the 
house in Lexington where Hancock and Adams were asleep, a 
man on guard cried out to him, '' Don't make so much noise." 
"Noise!" shouted Revere i; "you'll have noise enough before 
long ; the ' regulars ' are coming." 

Just before daybreak of April 19 the British "regulars" 
marched on to the village green of Lexington where a number 
of " minutemen " had collected. " Disperse, ye rebels ! " shouted 

1 Read Longfellow's " Paul Revere's Ride," though it is not strictly historical. 




Disperse, ye Rebels !" 



1775] 



LEXINGTON AND CONCORD 



H3 



Pitcairn, the British commander. No one moved ; then Pitcairn 
cried, '' Fire ! " A volley blazed out, and seven Americans fell 
dead. Some scattering shots were fired in return. Advancing 
to Concord, the soldiers destroyed such military stores as they 
could find ; at Concord Bridge they were met by the patriots. 
It was the opening battle of the Revolution, — several men fell 
on each side. There the first British were killed, there the first 
British graves were dug. The " regulars " then drew back, leaving 
the Americans in possession of 
the bridge, and began their march 
toward Boston. 

But the whole country was now 
aroused. The enraged farmers 
fired at the British from behind 
every wall, bush, and tree. The 
march became a retreat, the re- 
treat something like a run. When 
the " regulars " got back to Lex- 
ington, where Lord Percy met 
them with reenforcements, they 
dropped panting on the ground, 
" their tongues hanging out " like 
those of tired dogs.^ From Lex- 
ington the " minutemen" chased the British all the way to Charles- 
town. Nearly three hundred of the '' redcoats," as the Americans 
nicknamed the English soldiers, lay dead or dying on the road. 

Percy had marched gayly out of Boston to the tune of '' Yan 
kee Doodle," played in ridicule of the Americans, but it was 
noticed that his band did not play it on reentering the town 
— they had had quite enough of all that was 'Yankee" loi 
that day. 

The next morning the British army found themselves shut up 
in Boston. The Americans had surrounded it on the land side ; 
they dared the British to come out and fight — the siege of 
Boston had begun. (See Map, above.) 

1 So says an English officer. See Stedman's " American War," I, it8. 




The American Army besieging 

THE English Army in 

Boston 



144 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1776 



162. The Second Continental Congress; Washington made Com- 
mander in Chief; Ethan Allen's Victories. The Second Conti- 
nental Congress (§ 160) met at Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. 
It recognized George III as the ** rightful sovereign" of the 
American colonies, but it voted to raise 15,000 men to defend 
the liberties of the country, and it appointed George Washington 

(§§137-141) commander in 
chief of the American army. 
From this time until the Ar- 
ticles of Confederation were 
adopted ( 1 78 1 ) Congress prac- 
tically (§ 192) governed the 
country. Early in the morn- 
ing of the day on which that 
Congress met, Ethan Allen, a 
*' Green Mountain Boy," sur- 
prised the sentinel on duty 
and got entrance with his 
men to Fort Ticonderoga on 
Lake Champlain. Allen burst 
into the commandant's room 
and demanded the immedi- 
ate and unconditional surren- 
der of the fort. *' By what 
authority ? " asked the aston- 
ished officer. " In the name 
of the great Jehovah and 
the Continental Congress," 
thundered Allen. The com- 
mandant surrendered ; the Americans got possession of cannon, 
arms, and military stores which they sorely needed. Crown Point, 
a small fort on the lake, north of Ticonderoga, was taken the 
next day. 

163. Battle of Bunker Hill. General Gage (§ 160) had received 
reenforcements from England under the command of Generals 
Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne. He now had a force of about 




Ethan Allen takes Fort Ticonderoga 



1775] 



BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL 



145 



8000 men. Near the middle of June, 1775, he planned an ex- 
pedition to seize Bunker Hill.^ This hill is in Charlestown and 
overlooks part of Boston. Gage was afraid that the Americans 
might get possession of it; if so, they could fire into his camp 
and make him very uncomfortable. (Map, p. 143.) 

What, then, was his surprise when he found on the morning 
of the 17th of June that the "rebels," under the command of 
Colonel Prescott, had got the start of him, and that, during the 
night, they had actually seized and fortified the hill. General 
Gage saw that he must drive the 
Americans out of their entrench- 
ments or they would drive him 
out of Boston. He sent Howe 
to make the attack with 3000 
British '* regulars." The Ameri- 
can officers had about half that 
number of men. As the British 
moved up the hill the patriots 
received- this order : *' Don't fire 
till you see the white of their 
eyes." They obeyed ; when they 
did fire the destruction of life 
was terrible. The smoke lifted 
and there lay " The ' redcoats ' 
stretched in windrows as a mower 
rakes his hay." 2 

The British fell back, rallied, 
made a second attack, and again fell back. A third time Howe led 
his men up the hill. This time he was successful. The Ameri- 
cans had fired their last round of ammunition, and, fighting des- 
perately with the butt ends of their muskets and even with clubs 
and stones, they slowly retreated. They were driven back because 
they no longer had the means to continue the battle. 

1 The name Breed's Hill did not then exist. See Frothingham's " Joseph Warren," 
p. 507. anH Winsor's " America," VI, 135, 

2 Read O. W. Holmes's fine poem, " Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill." 




Colonel Prescott on Bunker 
Hill 



146 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1775 



In an hour and a half the British lost over 1000 men out of 
3000. The American loss was somewhat less than half as much.^ 
During the engagement Howe ordered Charlestown to be fired, 

and by night the greater part of 
the town was in ashes. 

This act roused Benjamin Frank- 
lin's indignation, and he wrote a 
letter to his former friend Strahan, 
a member of the English Parliament, 
which showed that though he was a 
man of peace, yet he knew when to 
be angry (see Franklin's 
letter on the oppo- 
site page). When Gen- 
eral Washington heard 
how the Americans had 
fought at Bunker Hill 
he exclaimed, " The lib- 
erties of the country are 
safe ! " 

164. Washington takes 
Command of the Army ; 
Expedition against Que- 
bec. Washington reached 
Cambridge and took com- 
mand of the army (§162) 
of 15,000 poorly armed 
and untrained men (1775). 
Meanwhile Congress had 
learned that the British in Canada were intending to attack 
points in northern New York. To give them something else to 
think of nearer home, General Montgomery of New York set 
out to take Quebec. He descended Lake Champlain and cap- 
tured Montreal. 




Watching the Battle of Bunker Hill 
FROM THE North End, Boston 



1 American loss 449, British 1054. Gage was ordered back to England and General 
Howe received command. 






(:?^ij>^I^. ^^^~ 



'<S^^*-^2'«^- a-<y 











C2X. 



tZ^O'-C^ At.>crt4^ Xri- 



.^ 



^i^-«- 




Franklin's Letter to Strahan 



147 



148 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1775-177(5 



Benedict Arnold of Connecticut, one of the bravest soldiers 
of the Revolution, started with over looo men to join in the 
attack. Setting out from Newburyport, Massachusetts, Arnold 
undertook to make his way from the mouth of the Kennebec 
through the forests of Maine. He was six weeks getting across 
the wilderness. The suffering was so terrible that many men 
deserted, and the rest, after having been compelled to eat their 
moccasins, nearly perished. 

At last Arnold reached Quebec with his ragged, barefooted, 
half-starved, and sadly diminished little army. Montgomery joined 
him with a few hundred men, and with this 
small force they attempted, on the last day 
of the year (1775), to storm ''the strongest 
fortified city of America" (§142). Mont- 
gomery was killed at the head of his troops, 
and Arnold badly wounded — it would have 
been a happy thing for the latter if he, too, 
had fallen dead on the field (§ 186). A few 
months later the Americans were driven out 
of Canada. 

165. Washington enters Boston ; the Brit- 
ish repulsed at Fort Moultrie. Throughout 
the winter (i 775-1 776) want of artillery and 
powder prevented Washington from doing 
anything more than simply keeping up the 
siege of Boston (§161). At length General 
Knox succeeded in dragging fifty cannon on ox sleds through 
the woods from Ticonderoga to Cambridge. Early in March 
(1776) Washington seized Dorchester Heights (South Boston) 
overlooking Boston on the south. He got his cannon into posi- 
tion and then gave General Howe (§ 163) his choice of withdraw- 
ing his forces from the town or having it battered to pieces about 
his ears. Howe took a good look, through his spyglass, at the 
American guns on the Heights, and ordered his men to embark 
as rapidly as possible (March 17 — St. Patrick's Day— 1776) 
for Halifax. 




ewburyport 



, SCALE OF MILES 
20 60 100 

Arnold's Expe- 
dition 



1776] 



WASHINGTON ENTERS BOSTON 



149 




Reduced Copy of the Gold Medal presented to 

Washington by Congress to commemorate 

HIS driving the British out of Boston 



The following day Washington entered Boston in triumph. 
The British had left it never to return. With them went about a 
thousand Tories, 

as those Ameri- x^TO^iJE^^^^ X^^^mmF 

cans were called 
who opposed the 
war and wished 
to submit to the 
King (§ 160). _ 

About mid- 
summer (1776) a 
British fleet ^ at- 
tacked Fort Sulli- 
van, in the harbor 

of Charleston, South Carolina. The British hoped to get pos- 
session of the city ; but Colonel Moultrie, aided by such heroes 
as Sergeant Jasper, defended his log fort with such energy that 

the enemy were glad enough 
to withdraw.^ 

166. "Common Sense'*; the 
Americans decide to separate 
from Great Britain. Up to 1 776 
the Americans had been fight- 
ing in defense of their rights 
as English subjects. Washing- 
ton said, '' When I first took 
command of the Continental 
army I abhorred the idea of 
independence." But in Jan- 




" Independence Hall," Phila- 
delphia, AS IT appeared 
IN 1776 



uary (1776) the King's proclamation reached Congress. In it 
he called for troops to put down ''the rebellion" in America. 
That was the only answer he gave to their humble petition for 
justice (§ 160). 

1 General Clinton left Boston in the winter of 1776 and sailed to attack the Carolinas. 
He was joined there by a fleet from England under Sir Peter Parker and Lord Comwallis. 
After their defeat at Fort Sullivan, Comwallis and Clinton, with their men, went to 
New York. 2 After the victory Fort Sullivan was named Fort Moultrie. 



ISO LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [177« 

The very day that proclamation came, a remarkable pamphlet 
was published in Philadelphia. It was entitled '' Common Sense." 
The writer was Thomas Paine, an Englishman who had come here 
to live. He boldly said that the time had come for a '' final sepa- 
ration " from England, and that ''arms must decide the contest." 
The pamphlet sold by tens of thousands, because it gave voice to 
what tens of thousands were thinking. 

The English people would not volunteer to fight the Americans, 
and the King had to hire nearly 30,000 Hessians, from the Prince 
of Hesse in Germany, to help do the work. The knowledge of 
that fact cut the last thread that held us bound to the mother 
country. The Americans had not sought separation ; the King — 
not the English people — had forced it on them. 

167. The Declaration of Independence. In June, 1776, Richard 
Henry Lee of Virginia offered this resolution in the Continental 




Reduced Copy of the Last Line of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence (IN Jefferson's Handwriting) with the First 
Three Signatures 

Congress which was sitting in the Old State House in Philadel- 
phia : " Resolved : that these United Colonies arc, and of right 

ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES." Johu AdamS of 

Massachusetts seconded the resolution. A committee of five — 
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, 




Thomas Jefferson 



151 



152 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1776 



Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Con- 
necticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York — was chosen 
to draw up a declaration embodying that resolution. Thomas 
Jefferson did the work. On the Fourth of July, 1776, John 
Hancock (§ 160), President of Congress, signed the Declaration 
of American Independence in that bold, decided hand which 

'' the King of England could read 
without spectacles." When the 
patriots of Philadelphia met, they 
rang the '' Liberty Bell " in the 
Old State House (now called 
''Independence Hall") till it 
nearly cracked with the joyous 
peal. In New York City the 
people pulled down a gilded lead 
statue of the King and melted it 
up into bullets. 

Later, the representatives of 
the colonies added their names 
to the Declaration. That com- 
pleted the work ; the thirteen 
British colonies had ceased to ex- 
ist ; in their place stood a new na- 
tion—the UNITED STATES 

It was cracked in 1835, while tolling for the QF AMERICA yOUr COUntry 

death of Chief Justice Marshall. . . 

and mme. 
168. Summary. George HI endeavored to tax the English 
colonists in America against their will, and in violation of their 
rights as English subjects. The colonists resisted, and finally 
took up arms to defend themselves. The King refused to do 
justice to the Americans, hired a foreign army to help subdue 
them, and so drove them to separate from Great Britain and to 
declare themselves independent. 




Liberty Bell, Independence 
Hall, Philadelphia 



1776] THE BRITISH AIM AT NEW YORK 1 53 

II. The War of Independence, from July 4, 1776, 
TO THE Victory of Saratoga, 1777 

169. The British aim at New York; Our Navy. Driven out 
of Boston (§ 165) and defeated at Charleston (§ 165), the British 
determined to strike New York. Their plan was to get posses- 
sion of the city and of the Hudson River. They could then pre- 
vent the New England colonists and those south of New York 
from helping each other, for our force on land was small, and we 
had no proper war ships to attack the enemy by sea. 

Later, we built a little navy. It was commanded by such heroes 
as John Barry (§ 214), who captured the first English armed vessel 
taken by us (1776), and Paul Jones, who did a great work a little 
later (§ 183). 

Our privateers also captured many English merchant ships 
laden with powder and war supplies. 

170. Washington's Preparations to receive the British; Fort 
Washington and Fort Lee. Washington foresaw this design of 
the enemy and prepared for it. When General Howe (§ 165), 
with his brother. Lord Howe, commander of the English fleet, 
reached New York in the summer (1776) they found Washington 
in possession of the city. They found, too, that they could not 
send their ships up the Hudson as easily as they had hoped, for 
the Americans had built Fort Washington and Fort Lee expressly 
to prevent it. (Map, p. 140.) 

171. The Two Armies; the Battle of Long Island. Still the 
British were confident that they could win the day. Howe and his 
brother were experienced military commanders. They had the aid 
of General Clinton and General Cornwallis, and over 30,000 well- 
armed soldiers — men who fought for a living. Washington had 
less than 1 8,000, most of whom knew nothing of war, while many 
had no muskets fit to fight with. But Washington held the city 
and the forts on the Hudson and he had possession of Brooklyn 
Heights on Long Island, directly opposite the city on the south. 

General Howe, with his army, was on Staten Island. He saw 
that if he could take Brooklyn Heights and plant his cannon 



154 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1776 

there, he could drive Washington out of New York, just as 
Washington, by seizing Dorchester Heights, had driven him out 
of Boston (§165). 

General Putnam was in command of the Heights with a force 
of 9000 Americans. In the battle of Long Island (August 27, 
1776) the gallant little American army met with defeat. 

Putnam with his whole force would certainly have been cap- 
tured if it had not been for Washington's energy and skill. 
During the night a dense fog came up, and under cover of it 
Washington got all of Putnam's men safe across the river in 
boats to New York. In the morning, when the British com- 
mander stretched out his hand to take the ''nest of rebels," as 
he called it, he got the nest indeed, but it was empty — the birds 
had flown. 

172. Washington retreats Northward; Nathan Hale; Fort 
Washington taken; Lee's Disobedience. Washington was now 
forced to abandon New York and retreat up the east side of the 
river. He was naturally very anxious to find out what the British 
meant to do next. Captain Nathan Hale of Connecticut volun- 
teered to try to get this information for him, but the brave young 
man was arrested and hanged as a spy. As he stood on the gallows 
he said to the British officer in charge, '' I only regret that I have 
but one life to lose for my country." 

Washington ordered West Point (Map, p. 140), the strongest 
place on the west bank of the Hudson, to be fortified, to pre- 
vent the enemy from going up to Albany. He then crossed to 
the west bank of the river, but could not hold his ground against 
Lord Cornwallis, and he lost both Fort Washington and Fort 
Lee (§ 170). He had left some of his best soldiers, under the 
command of General Charles Lee, on the east side of the Hud- 
son. He now ordered Lee to join him, but that traitorous officer 
disobeyed him.^ 

1 General Charles Lee was bom in England. He had been an officer in the British aimy, 
but had left that service, come to this country, and had obtained the rank of major general in 
the American army. He was in no way connected with the Lees of Virginia. While he was in 
command on the Hudson he was trying to prejudice Congress against Washington, in hope of 
getting his place. Later, he showed himself to be utterly unprincipled and treacherous (§ 182). 



1776] GENERAL LEE CAPTURED 155 

173. Washington retreats across the Delaware; General Lee 
captured. Washington with his small force now began to retreat 
across New Jersey toward Philadelphia. He broke down bridges 
after he had crossed them, destroyed the provisions Cornwallis 
hoped to get for his army, and so delayed the enemy that it took 
them nearly three weeks (November 19 to December 8) to march 
less than seventy miles across a level country. 

Cornwallis and his '' redcoats " followed the retreating Ameri- 
cans sometimes at a distance, then again close on their heels. 
There were times when the British would be entering a town just 
as our men were hurrying out of it. 

Many patriots began to despair of success. How, they asked, 
can our fugitive army of only 3000 men, wretchedly armed, scantily 
clothed, and half fed hope to escape their pursuers ? Under any 
other general they could not have escaped ; but they had Wash- 
ington for their leader, and Washington was the heart, strength, 
and soul of the. Revolution. 

Finding that he could not hold New Jersey, he was forced at 
last (December 8, 1776) to cross the Delaware at Trenton. The 
British would have pushed on after him ; but the American gen- 
eral had seized every boat for nearly a hundred miles up and 
down the river. All that the British could do was to sit down on 
the bank and wait for the stream to freeze over. 

Not long after Washington had reached Pennsylvania the 
false-hearted Lee (§ 172) crossed the Hudson and marched 
with 4000 men toward Morristown, New Jersey. While he was 
asleep in a tavern several miles from his men, a squad of Brit- 
ish soldiers surprised and captured him. His army, thus fortu- 
nately rid of him, advanced and found an opportunity to join 
Washington. 

174. The Victory of Trenton. On Christmas night (1776) 
Washington, with a force of less than 2500 men, recrossed the 
Delaware — then full of floating ice — and marched on Trenton 
in a furious snowstorm. There he surprised a body of Hessian 
(§ 166) soldiers and took 1000 prisoners and a large quantity of 
arms and ammunition. 



156 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1776-1777 



All this he did with scarce the loss of a man» It was not only 
a bold stroke, but a great victory, because it had great results. 
Thousands of patriots had begun to despair; now their hearts 
leaped with joy. It was a Christmas long to be remembered. 

175. What Robert Morris did for Washington. But it was near 
the end of the year ; the time for which many of Washington's 
men had enlisted would be up in a few days, and he needed 
money to get them to reenlist. Congress had indeed tried hard 
to manufacture money. It had printed bills, called ''continental 
currency," by the wagon load. But the poor soldiers, barefooted, 
half-starved, ragged, and miserable, did not want what Congress 
offered them. They had left wives and children at home who 

were crying for bread, and the men 
wanted to send them something that 
would buy it. They knew by sad ex- 
perience that a dollar bill issued by 
a government that had no silver or 
gold to make it good was worth just 
as much as any other dingy scrap of 
paper of the same size — and worth 
no more. 

Washington sympathized with the 
men. He felt that on this occasion 
he must have money that had the 
genuine rmg in it. He wrote to his friend Robert Morris, 
merchant and banker, of Philadelphia, begging him to send 
^50,000 in hard cash. Morris set out on New Year's morn- 
ing (1777) before it was light, went from house to house, roused 
his friends from their beds, and got the money. He sent it at 
once to Washington. It was as good as another victory. It saved 
the army. 

176. Cornwallis outwitted ; Victory of Princeton ; Winter Quar- 
ters at Morristown ; Coming of Lafayette, De Kalb, and Steuben. 
Cornwallis, leaving part of his force at Princeton, New Jersey, 
hurried south to catch Washington. He found him between Tren- 
ton and a bend of the Delaware. That night the British general 




Robert Morris collecting 
Money 



1777] BURGOYNE'S EXPEDITION 157 

went to sleep, certain that Washington could not get away. For 
how could he hope to escape, with the British army in front and 
the broad, deep Delaware River full of floating ice behind him ? 
Cornwallis told his brother officers that they would '' bag the old 
fox " in the morning. While the English general lay dreaming, 
Washington like an ''old fox" crept stealthily round him, and 
got to Princeton. 

In the battle there (January 3, 1777), the American advance 
force was driven back. Just then Washington came up and saved 
the army from defeat. Then the American general with his little 
army made themselves snug and safe in the hills about Morris- 
town, in northern New Jersey. There they remained until the last 
of May (1777). (Map, p. 140.) 

Cornwallis knew that he could not drive Washington out of 
his strong position without a desperate battle, so he hurried back 
to New Brunswick, New Jersey, for fear that the Americans 
would cut off his food supplies from New York City. 

The next summer Lafayette, a French nobleman of nineteen, 
came from Paris to offer his services to Washington in behalf of 
American liberty. He became one of Washington's generals, and 
not only gave his services to the country, but equipped many of 
the men under his command with arms and clothing furnished 
at his own expense. Lafayette brought with him Baron de Kalb, 
a German military veteran, who also became a general in the 
United States army. Later, Baron Steuben, a Prussian military 
engineer, joined the Americans and made himself of the greatest 
use in drilling and disciplining our troops. Kosciusko and Pulaski, 
two eminent Polish patriots, joined our army at the same time. 

177. Burgoyne's Expedition; Battle of Oriskany; Battle of 
Bennington. Meanwhile, the British made a new move. General 
Burgoyne (§ 163) marched down from Canada (1777) with 8000 
men by way of Lake Champlain, and took Fort Ticonderoga 
(§ 162). He then pushed forward toward the Hudson, expect- 
ing to join a part of Howe's army there. 

Another British expedition started from Oswego with a force of 
Iroquois Indians (§ 32) and Tories (§ 160) to unite with Burgoyne. 



158 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1777 



The three EngHsh armies expected to get control of all New 
York and the Hudson River, and so cut off New England — '' the 
head of the rebellion " — from the other colonies. (Map, p. 140.) 
The enemy coming from Oswego might have taken Fort Stan- 
wix, later named Fort Schuyler, had not General Herkimer met 
them at Oriskany. In the battle Herkimer received his death 
wound ; but the brave old man propped himself against a tree and 
kept up the fight until the British, Indians, and Tories fled. 

All went well with Burgoyne until he struck into the wilderness 
south of Lake Champlain. There General Schuyler of Albany 

broke down all the 
bridges, felled trees 
across the only road 
there was through the 
woods, and made Bur- 
goyne's life miserable. 
Next the British gen- 
eral's horses and pro- 
visions gave out. He 
sent a thousand men 
to Bennington, Ver- 
mont, to get more. 
Colonel John Stark, 
one of the heroes of 
Bunker Hill (§ 38), 
started with a small 
force to meet the enemy. Pointing to the " redcoats," he said, 
"There they are, boys; we beat them to-day or Mollie Stark's a 
widow." Mrs. Stark had no occasion to put on mourning; for her 
husband, with his men, whipped the British (August 16, 1777) so 
badly that less than a hundred out of the thousand ever got back 
to Burgoyne. Washington called the victory a '' great stroke." It 
was, indeed ; for it prepared the way for Burgoyne's downfall. 

178. Howe's Expedition to Pennsylvania; Battle of Brandy- 
wine; Philadelphia taken; Battle of Germantown. While these 
events were happening Howe started from New York (§ 170) to 




General Herkimer at Oriskany 



1777] TURNING POINT IN THE REVOLUTION 159 

march to Philadelphia. Washington had not men enough to meet 
the British general in open fight, but he so worried him and 
wasted his time that General Howe finally went back with his 
army to New York in disgust. 

Howe then started to go to Philadelphia by sea. Finding the 
Delaware River fortified against him, he landed at the head of 
Chesapeake Bay and marched against the " Quaker City." 

Washington met him at Brandywine Creek, and tried to check 
his advance ; but Howe had a much stronger force, and the 
battle (September 11, 1777) delayed but did not stop the British. 
(Map, p. .140.) Two weeks later the enemy entered the city which 
was then the capital of the United States. Leaving a small force 
at Germantown, now a part of Philadelphia, Howe went down the 
Delaware to capture the forts and get possession of that river. 
While he was gone Washington attacked the British at German- 
town, but was repulsed. He then fell back to the hills on the 
Schuylkill at Valley Forge, about twenty miles northwest of Phila- 
delphia. (Map, p. 140.) 

179. The Turning Point in the Revolution; Battle of Saratoga, 
1777; the Stars and Stripes; Help from France. Meanwhile, 
great events had happened in the North. Burgoyne had fought 
two battles in the neighborhood of Saratoga, September 19 and 
October 7, 1777; he had been utterly defeated, and his entire 
army, numbering about 6000 men, captured. (Map, p. 140.) If 
to this number we add that of the prisoners taken by us before 
the surrender, and the loss of the enemy at Bennington (§ 177), 
it will give a total of nearly 10,000 — or about one third the 
entire British force then in America. The captured army was 
marched off by the American officers triumphantly bearing the 
Stars and Stripes, ^ which had just been adopted as our national 

1 The first United States flag (adopted by Congress, June 14, 1777) having the stars and 
stripes was made, it is said, out of a soldier's white shirt, an old blue army overcoat, and a 
red flannel petticoat. It was hoisted by our army at Fort Stanwix (near Rome), New York, 
during Burgoyne's campaign in 1777. Paul Jones appears to have first raised this flag at 
sea (§ 183).- The flag raised by Washington at Cambridge when he took command of the 
army was the English flag with thirteen red and white stripes added. In the flag adopted by 
Congress the stars represent all the states ; the stripes, the first thirteen states. The stars 
and stripes on Washington's coat of arms may have suggested the flag. 



l6o LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1777 



flag. General Gates ^ got the credit of the victory ; but Benedict 
Arnold (§ 164) and Daniel Morgan ^ with his sharpshooters were 
the men who really won it, partly by gallant fighting, partly by 
cutting off all supplies from the enemy, and at last . by literally 
starving them into a surrender. 

In the wars of over twenty centuries an eminent English writer 
finds only fifteen battles that have had a lasting influence on the 

world's history. The American 
victory at Saratoga, he says, 
was one of them.^ It had two 
immense results : 

1. It completely broke up 
the English plans for the war. 

2. It secured for us the aid 
of England's old and powerful 
enemy, France. 

Some time after the victory 
Lafayette (§ 176) received let- 
ters from Paris. He was then 
atValley Forge (§ 178). When 
he had read the letters he ran to 
Washington and cried out with 
tears of j oy, " The King, my mas- 
ter, has acknowledged the inde- 
pendence of America, and will 
sign a treaty to help you establish it." It was true. Men like to help 
those who show that they are trying their best to help themselves. We 
had shown it, and now the King of France held out his hand to us. 
The next year (February 6, 1778) Benjamin Franklin, our 
minister at Paris, obtained the treaty or agreement by which the 

1 General Gates, like General Charles Lee (§ 172), was bom in Great Britain and had 
served in the English army. He appears to have taken no direct part in these battles; in 
fact, he was not actually on the field in either. 

2 Daniel Morgan of Virginia. He commanded a force of five hundred picked riflemen 
— " sharpshooters " — with aim so accurate that it was humorously said that any one of them 
could toss up an apple and shoot all the seeds out of it as it fell. The enemy who had to 
face these riflemen never disputed the story. 

8 " The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," by Sir Edward S. Creasy. 




Victory of Saratoga 



1778] WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE i6l 

French King pledged himself to send us men, ships, and money 
for the war. Franklin and Washington were the two great men 
who carried the war to final success : Washington by destroying 
enemies, Franklin by gaining friends ; Washington by the sword, 
Franklin, like Morris (§ i/S), with the purse. ^ 

i8o. Summary. The War of Independence began with the 
Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. In the first battle, 
that of Long Island, the Americans were defeated. Washington 
retreated across the Delaware, but returned and gained the bril- 
liant victory of Trenton. Howe took Philadelphia ; but shortly 
after, the Americans captured Burgoyne and his whole army at 
Saratoga ; in consequence of that success France recognized the 
independence of America, and pledged herself to help us fight 
our battles by land and sea. 

III. The War of Independence, from the Treaty with 
France to the End of the War (i 778-1 783) 

181. Washington at Valley Forge (1777-1778); Peace offered; 
Howe leaves Philadelphia. But though the great victory of Sara- 
toga in the autumn of 1777 (§179) filled the land with joy, 
yet the winter which followed was a terrible one. While Howe 
and his officers were living luxuriously in Philadelphia (§ 178), 
Washington's men, '' naked and starving," were dying of putrid 
fever on the frozen hillsides of Valley Forge (§ 178). They were 
dying, too, before the good news could reach them that the King 
of France had pledged his word to aid America in her great 
struggle (§ 179). 

England was greatly alarmed at the action of France in 
taking our part. The next spring (1778) the British govern- 
ment offered peace, representation in Parliament — everything, 
in fact, but independence. But it was independence that we were 

1 Franklin lent all his ready money — about fifteen thousand dollars — to the country, 
to fight the battles of the Revolution, and lent it when everything looked against us. 
His influence got us a gift from France of nearly two million dollars and a loan of over 
three million more. Thus he used his own purse and the purse of the French King to 
help us. 



i62 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1778 



fighting for, and we rejected the offer. Fear of the approach- 
ing French fleet now compelled the British^ to abandon Phila- 
delphia and start for New York. 
182. Battle of Monmouth; 
Lee*s Disgrace ; Indian Massacres ; 
Clark's Victories in the West. 
About 1 5,000 of the English forces 
started to go across New Jersey. 
Now was Washington's opportu- 
nity. With about the same num- 
ber he followed them up sharply. 
A battle was fought at Monmouth 
(Map, p. 140) (June 28, 1778), 
which we barely won. It was the 
last battle of note fought on north- 
ern soil. It would have ended in 
a brilliant victory for our side, if 
General Charles Lee (§ 173), who unfortunately had come back 
to us, had done his duty. He acted like a lunatic or a traitor. 
Washington sternly rebuked 




Valley Forge 



M I r FT I O A V pj ^ 
Kort Detroit ^%Jfy^<;<ie V 




him, and shortly after ordered 
him to withdraw from the 
battle and go to the rear. Lee 
was tried by court-martial for 
disobedience and misbehavior, 
and suspended from the army ; 
later. Congress dismissed him 
in disgrace, and in disgrace 
he died. 

The British forces now re- 
turned to New York and vi- 
cinity. Washington, with his 
army stretched out from Morristown, New Jersey, to West Point 
on the Hudson, watched them day and night. (Map, p. 140.) 

1 General Howe resigned in the winter of 1 777-1 778. His brother, Lord Howe, resigned 
the next summer (1778). Sir Henry Clinton succeeded General Howe in command of the 
army (May, 1779), and Admiral Byron succeeded Lord Howe in command of the British fleet 



Clark's Line of March from the 
Ohio River to Forts Kaskas- 

KIA AND ViNCENNES 



1778] 



THE BRITISH ATTACK THE SOUTH 



163 



In the summer and autumn bands of ferocious Iroquois (§ 32) 
led by Tory (§§ 160, 165) captains committed horrible massacres 
at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and Cherry Valley, New York. 

In the West, Captain George Rogers Clark of Virginia ac- 
complished wonders. He and his little band of stalwart back- 
woodsmen set out to capture the enemy's forts (i 778-1 779). 
They endured terrible hardships and sufferings in crossing the 
" Drowned Lands " where the Wabash River, in Indiana, had 
overflowed the country. Often they had to push forward for 
miles through ice-cold water waist-deep. But neither hunger, 
cold, nor exhaustion could force them to turn back. They literally 
waded to victory. Fi- 
nally, they drove the 
British out of Illinois 
and later from Indiana, 
thus securing that im- 
mense region to the 
United States. It be- 
gan to look as though 
the King of England 
was losing his grip on 
America. 

183. The British at- 
tack the South ; Savannah taken ; Wayne's Victory ; Paul Jones. 
The enemy now (1778) transferred the war to the South. Their 
plan was to begin at Georgia and conquer northward. Then, in 
case the English government was forced to make peace, it hoped 
to be able to keep the southern territory. King George was pru- 
dent : ''Half a loaf," said he to himself, ''is better than none." 
The last of the year (December 29, 1778) an expedition attacked 
Savannah. The British had three men to our one ; they took 
the city. 

The British had got possession of the fort at Stony Point 
(Map, p. 140) in the Highlands of the Hudson. So long as they 
held it, our men could not cross the river at King's Ferry — 
then the principal crossing place between New England and 




Wading to Victory 



i64 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1779-1780 

the southern states. '' Mad Anthony Wayne," ^ under Washing- 
ton's direction, stormed and took the fort (July 15, 1779), at 
midnight, at the point of the bayonet — never firing a shot dur- 
ing the battle. The capture of the fort stopped the British plans 
for ravaging Connecticut. They found that they must use all 
their forces to hold the Hudson. 

The next autumn brought glorious news. Captain Paul Jones,^ 
the first man to hoist the Stars and Stripes (§ 179) over an 
American war ship, had, with the help of Benjamin Franklin 
(§ 135), fitted out three or four vessels in our defense. With 
three of these vessels, one of which was a half-rotten old hulk, 
he boldly attacked and captured two British men-of-war. The fight 
took place off Flamborough Head on the east coast of England. 
(Map, p. 67.) 

After that most humiliating defeat England still boasted that 
she was *' mistress of the seas," but the boast was in a lower 
tone ; if Paul Jones had only had a few more ships, he would 
have made the tone a whisper. 

184. The British take Charleston; Marion and Sumter^s Mode 
of Fighting. In the spring (1780) the war in the South was 
renewed with vigor. The British took Charleston (May 12, 1780), 
and Lord Cornwallis (§ 171) held the city. But Marion (§ 115) 
and Sumter, with their bands of resolute men armed with a few 
guns, and weapons made of old scythes and saw blades, did good 
service in the American cause. When the British forces went out 
to conquer the country, the Carolina patriots attacked them just 
as two kingbirds attack a hawk. The kingbirds are not nearly as 
big and strong as the hawk, but they are far quicker. They strike 
him from opposite sides. They easily dodge his blows, but he 
cannot avoid theirs. So they worry and torment the hawk until 
they tire him out, and he is glad to fly in any direction to get 
away from them. 

1 General Anthony Wayne of Pennsylvania. He was called " Mad Anthony Wayne " 
on account of his daring. The British thought that the Americans could not use the bayonet ; 
Wayne showed them their mistake. 

2 Paul Jones was by birth a Scotchman. He entered the American service in 1775, His 
name was originally John Paul 



1780-1781] VICTORY OF KINGIS MOUNTAIN 165 

185. Loss of Camden; Brilliant Victory of King*s Mountain. 

The British had a small force at Camden (Map, p. 162), South 
Carolina — a great center for roads, and hence of much impor- 
tance from a military point of view. General Gates (§ 179) with 
General De Kalb (§ 176) resolved to attempt the capture of the 
place before Cornwallis could arrive there, but Cornwallis reached 
Camden first. A battle was fought (August 16, 1780) in which 
Gates was compelled to retreat, losing artillery and baggage, and 
narrowly escaping capture himself. 

But while Cornwallis was chuckling over his victory, the back- 
woodsmen of this part of the country, sharpshooters, every man, 
attacked a British force at King's Mountain (October 7, 1780), 
on the borders of North and South Carolina, and in a terrible 
battle completely defeated the enemy. (Map, p. 162.) 

186. Arnold* s Treason; the Dreadful Winter at Morristown. 
Meanwhile (September 22, 1780), the most startling and the 
saddest event of the Revolution occurred. Benedict Arnold 
(§§ 164, 179), Washington's tmsted friend, commander at West 
Point, had turned traitor. The discovery was made through the 
arrest of Andre, a British spy by whom Arnold attempted to 
send a plan of the fort to the British commander at New York. 
Andre was tried and hanged, but Arnold escaped to the British 
army. Later, the traitor led an attack on Richmond, Virginia, 
and burnt it, and, last of all, one on New London in his native 
state of Connecticut. 

Arnold died in London twenty years later. It is said that 
the last request he made was that the epaulettes and sword 
knot which Washington had given him might be brought. *' Let 
me die," said he, ''in my old American uniform, in which I 
fought my battles. God forgive me for ever having put on 
any other ! " 

The gloom of Arnold's awful act of treason was felt in the 
American camp at Morristown (§ 182) in the dreadful winter 
(i 780-1 781) which followed. In some respects it was worse than 
that at Valley Forge (§ 181) ; and the men, unpaid, half fed, freez- 
ing, were driven to desperation and partial revolt. 



i66 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1781 



187. Greene's Campaign in the South (1781); the Incident at 
the Tavern; Cornwallis leaves the Carolinas. But it was the 
gloom that precedes the dawn. General Nathanael Greene of 
Rhode Island had been placed in command at the South. Next 
to Washington he was by far the ablest soldier in the Revolution. 
With a little force that seemed, as he said, but " the shadow of an 
army," he accomplished wonders. 

Early in the year (January 17, 1781) a part of Greene's men, led 
by Morgan (§ 179), gained the battle of Cowpens, South Caro- 
hna. (Map, p. 162.) Then Greene, who was master of the game 
,, r ' y he was now playing, retreated to- 
- ' ' ward Virginia, thus drawing Corn- 

wallis, who followed him, further 
and further away from his supplies 
at Charleston. But the American 
general had many anxious days 
during this retreat, and often the 
chances of success seemed wholly 
against him. 

On one such occasion he reached 
Steele's tavern at Salisbury after 
midnight, wet to the skin with 
the heavy rain that had fallen 
all day. Steele looked at him in 
astonishment and asked if he was 
alone. 

" Yes," answered the general, ** tired, hungry, alone, and pen- 
niless." Mrs. Steele heard his reply ; she made haste and set 
a smoking hot breakfast before the weary, despondent soldier. 
Then she carefully shut the door, and drawing two bags of silver 
from under her apron, she held them out to her guest. 

"Take these," said she; "you need them and I can do with- 
out them." 

It was such noble-hearted women as Mrs. Elizabeth Steele who 
helped our men to keep up heart to the end. The honor shall be 
theirs so long as history lasts. 




Mrs. Steele and General 
Greene 



1781] GREENE'S CAMPAIGN IN SOUTH CAROLINA 167 

At Guilford Court House (now Greensborough), North Caro- 
lina, Cornwallis defeated the Americans (March 15, 1781), but 
he himself lost so heavily that he could not hold his ground and 
had to retreat to Wilmington, North Carolina. He arrived there 
(April 7, 1 781) in miserable plight, having lost about half of 
his small army by battle, sickness, or desertion. On reaching 
Wilmington, Cornwallis heard that Greene had turned back to 
attack the English force under Lord Rawdon left at Camden, 
South Carolina. Cornwallis was in no condition to wheel about 
and follow Greene. He finally decided to march northward to 
Petersburg, Virginia. (Map, p. 162.) There he hoped to get 
more troops from New York ; then, having conquered Virginia, 
he would go back and reconquer the Carolinas. 

188. Greene's Campaign in South Carolina. Cornwallis started 
on his long march of 200 miles. Meanwhile, Greene, aided by 
Marion, Sumter (§ 184), and Pickens, had driven the British 
from Camden (May 10, 1781). Through the summer he struck 
the enemy blow after blow, and ended by gaining what was prac- 
tically a victory, at Eutaw Springs, South Carolina (September 8, 
178 1). After that the British — what there was left of them — 
fled to Charleston, shut themselves up there, and did not venture 
out. Greene had in fact won, back the Carolinas; and he had 
won them, thanks to the help given by Marion, Sumter, and 
Pickens, with an army which did not number more than about 
2000 men. To accomplish much with small means is a sure sign 
of greatness. Greene had done this, and Washington was the 
man who taught him. 

189. The Crowning Victory of the War, 1781. Cornwallis 
reached Virginia, and after vainly pursuing Lafayette (§§ 176, 
179) and destroying millions of dollars' worth of property he 
entered Yorktown, on a narrow peninsula at the mouth of the 
York River. He went there not because he wanted to, but 
because he must. Cornwallis had been chasing Lafayette ; he 
boastingly said, ''The boy cannot escape me." But ''the boy," 
Lafayette, with a larger army, had turned round and begun chas- 
ing him. Cornwallis moved to Yorktown (July 30, 1781) to get 



i68 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1781 



help by sea from New York. There the British general fortified 
himself. He did not know it, but he was building his own prison 
— one that he would never get out of except by surrender. 

While he was waiting for soldiers to arrive from New York 
a French fi-eet of war ships (§ 179) was coming to block him 
in. Now was Washington's chance to strike a tremendous blow. 
His plan was to march rapidly south from the Hudson to York- 
town, and, with the help of the French fleet and French troops 
and of Lafayette and his army, to capture Cornwallis with his 

whole force. Such a 
move required a large 
amount of money to 
pay the men and buy 
provisions. Robert 
Morris (§ 175) again 
came to the rescue 
and is said to have 
furnished nearly a 
million and a half of 
dollars for the good 
work. 

Clinton (§ 171), 
at the head of the 
British force in New 
York, thought Wash- 
ington was getting 
ready to attack him. Washington encouraged him to think so. 
Even Washington's own army supposed that was his intention. 
When he was ready, Washington suddenly broke camp and 
marched his entire force with all possible speed across the country 
to the head of Chesapeake Bay and thence (by vessels) to York- 
town. (Map, p. 162.) 

Cornwallis looked over the walls of his fortified town. He 
saw the French fleet on one side, and the American army 9000 
strong, with the French army 7000 strong, massed together 
against him on the other side. He held out manfully for more 




Washington firing the First Gun at Yorktown 



1781] 



SUMMARY OF THE REVOLUTION 



169 



than a week against solid shot, shell, and red-hot balls. Then, 
seeing that it was useless to struggle against fate, he surren- 
dered. His army marched out October 19, 1781, to the tune 
of ''The World's Upside Down." It was true; the British 
world in America was ''upside down," and the fall of York- 
town practically ended the War of the Revolution. After more 
than six weary years of fighting Washington had conquered. It 
was " the victory of a great and good man in a great and good 
cause." 

When the news reached London and was announced to Lord 
North, then the Prime Minister and the King's chief adviser, 
he threw up his arms 
as though a cannon 
ball had struck him, 
cried out wildly, " It 
is all over ! " and then 
resigned his office. 

190. Summary of 
the Revolution. The 
King of England in- 
sisted on taxing the 
American colonies 
without their consent. 
The Americans re- 
fused to pay, and took 
up arms in defense of their rights as loyal English subjects. The 
King and his party endeavored to put down the rebellion, and 
on July 4, 1776, the colonists declared themselves independent 
of Great Britain. 

The War for Independence then began. At Saratoga, in 1777, 
the Americans gained a great victory over Burgoyne. In con- 
sequence of that victory the King of France acknowledged the 
independence of the United States, and sent money, ships, and 
men to fight in our behalf. 

In 1 78 1 Washington, with the help of French troops and of 
French ships of war, defeated Cornwallis at Yorktown, and took 





rite. ., . . 
"The World's Upside Down 



m. 



I70 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1782-1783 

him prisoner with all his army. That decisive victory prac- 
tically ended the Revolution, and forced England to give up 
the contest. 

191. George Ill's speech on the United States ; England makes 
a Treaty of Peace with us, 1783 ; the King's Meeting with John 
Adams. At the opening of Parliament (i 782), the King, in a voice 
choked with emotion, announced that he was ready to acknowledge 
the independence of the United States. He closed his speech by 
saying that it was his earnest prayer that '' religion, language, 
interest, and affection might prove a bond of permanent union 
between the two countries." 

A final treaty of peace between Great Britain and this coun- 
try was signed at Paris in 1783. It secured to us the thirteen 
states, with Maine, and the territory west of them to. the Mis- 
sissippi. (Map, p. 1 70.) Our first minister to England was John 
Adams of Massachusetts. The King said to him : '' Sir, I will be 
very free with you. I was the last to consent to the separation, 
but the separation having been made ... I have always said, 
as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship 
of the United States as an independent power." 

192. The American States Independent but not really United; 
Congress destitute of Power; the Articles of Confederation. But 
though America had won her independence, she had not secured 
harmony and union. While the war lasted the states fought 
like brothers, side by side ; now that the danger was over they 
threatened to fall apart. We were like a barrel made of thirteen 
stout staves, but without a single strong hoop to hold us to- 
gether. When Congress made the Declaration of Independence 
(§ 167), it also framed the first national constitution called the 
Articles of Confederation (§ 162). But the states did not adopt 
that constitution until five years later, 1781. 

Under the Articles of Confederation the government accom- 
plished two great pieces of work : 

1. It made peace with Great Britain, 1783 (§ 191). 

2. It adopted the famous Ordinance for the government of the 
Northwest Territory, 1787 (§ 195). 



1783-1787] JEALOUSY OF THE STATES I /I 

But, generally speaking, the Articles proved to be very unsat- 
isfactory. Under them the nation could do but little because 

1 . It had no President — no head. 

2. It had a Congress, but that Congress was destitute of 
power. It might pass good and useful laws, but it could not 
compel the people to obey them. It might beg the people to 
give money, but it could not make them furnish it. It might 
ask for soldiers to defend the country, but it could not force 
them to serve. 

193. Distressed Condition of the Country; Jealousy of the 
States ; Lack of Freedom of Trade. The truth is, that the people 
had come out of the war in a distressed condition. They were 
heavily in debt. Business was at a standstill. Gold and silver 
coin was scarce. The states had an abundance of paper stuff 
which pretended to be money, but nobody knew what it was worth, 
and what passed for a dollar in one state might not pass at all 
in another. The distress and discontent grew worse and worse. 
The states quarreled with each other about boundary lines, about 
commerce, about trade. Instead of being a united and friendly 
people, they were fast getting to be thirteen hostile nations ready 
to draw the sword against each other. 

This feeling was shown in the fact that a man could not buy 
and sell freely outside of his own state. If, for instance, a farmer 
in New Jersey took a load of potatoes to New York, he might 
have to pay a tax of five or ten cents a bushel to that state before 
he could offer them for sale. On the other hand, if a New York 
merchant sent a case of boots to New Jersey to sell to the 
farmers, that state might, if it chose, tax him ten cents a pair 
before he could get a permit to dispose of his goods. 

194. "Shays' Rebellion** (1786-1787). The people of Massa- 
chusetts were perhaps more heavily loaded with debt than those 
of any other state. It is said that the heads of families owed about 
two hundred dollars apiece. They were willing to pay, but could 
get nothing to pay with. When great numbers of poor people 
were sued and thrown into prison, multitudes became desperate. 
In the western part of the state Daniel Shays raised an army of 



172 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1786-1787 



nearly two thousand excited farmers (1786). They surrounded 
the courthouses at Worcester and Springfield, and put a stop 
to all lawsuits for debt. It was not until a strong military force 
was sent out against them that the '' rebellion " was finally quelled, 

and Shays compelled to fly to 
New Hampshire. 

195. How the Northwest Ter- 
ritory helped keep the Union 
together. The most powerful 
influence which kept the na- 
tion from dropping to pieces 
was the fact that the states had 
an interest in the Northwest 
Territory. (Map, opposite.) Up 
to the middle of the Revolu- 
tion seven of the thirteen states 
claimed the country west of 
them as far as the Mississippi 
River. 

Four of these states — Vir- 
ginia, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — claimed land 
northwest of the Ohio River to the Mississippi. They finally 
agreed (i 781-1786) to give it to the United States to be disposed 
of for the common good. 

In 1787 Congress made the celebrated Ordinance or body of 
laws for the government of this Northwest Territory. That Ordi- 
nance had four very important provisions : 

1. It forbade the holding of slaves in the territory (though it 
made provision for returning fugitive slaves who should escape 
to that region). 

2. It granted entire religious freedom to every settler. 

3. It encouraged '' schools and the means of education." 

4. It provided that the new territory should be cut up into 
states, equal in standing with the original thirteen. 

People believed that Congress would be able to sell farm- 
ing lands in that vast region, — now forming the great and 




Shays' Rebellion 




92^ gp 82° 77° 

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY was divided into the five 
following states ( with Minnesota east of the Mississippi ) : 1. 
Ohio, admitted 1803 ; 2. Indiana, admitted 1816 ; 3. nhnois, 
admitted 1818 ; 4. Michigan, admitted 1837 ; 5. Wisconsin, 
admitted 1848. (See note on map of U. S. 1783.) 



1787] A NEW CONSTITUTION ADOPTED 1/3 

prosperous states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin, and eastern Minnesota, — and thus get money to pay off 
the war debt of the Revolution. That belief helped to hold the 
country together. 

196. The Articles of Confederation are set aside and a New 
Constitution adopted, 1787. Still, even with this hope to brighten 
tne sky, the outlook was dark enough. Washington, Franklin, 
Madison, Hamilton, — in a word, the ablest men of that day, — 
thought the prospect anything but encouraging. It seemed to 

em that unless we secured a better form of government than 
that which the defective Articles of Confederation provided (§ 192) 
the newborn republic was likely to die in its cradle. 

At last (1787) a convention of fifty-five members was held in 
Philadelphia to make a new Constitution. Washington presided 
over this convention, and a majority of the state legislatures sent 
their chief men to take part in it. The convention held a secret 
session of nearly four months, and had many stormy debates 
before the articles of the new Constitution could be agreed upon. 
At one time Benjamin Franklin (§§ 135, 152, 157, 163, 183) 
and other eminent men nearly despaired of any successful result. 
But by three judicious compromises ^ the great work was finally 

A Theyfrj-/ important question of debate was between the delegates from the small states 
and those from the large ones in regard to representation in Congress. If the representation 
rested wholly on population, then the large states would, of course, have entire control. 

This question was settled by a compromise or mutual concession by which it was finally 
agreed that Congress should consist of two houses : (i) the House of Representatives chosen 
by the people of the different states and representing them ; (2) the Senate, or Upper House, 
consisting of two members from each state. (See the Constitution, in the Appendix, Article I, 
Sections 2 and 3.) In the Senate the small states stand equal to the large ones. 

The second great question was whether slaves should be counted in reckoning the number 
of the population with reference to representation in Congress. The North insisted that 
they should not ; the South (where slaves were very numerous), that they should. The con- 
test on this point was long and bitter. Finally, it was agreed that three fifths of the slaves 
should be counted with reference to both representation and taxation (though the slaves 
themselves were of course neither represented nor taxed). (See the Constitution, Article I, 
Section 2, Paragraph 3, ^'^ Three fifths of all other persons P These "other persons" were 
slaves.) 

The third and last question was in regard to commerce and to protection of slaveholders. 
It was agreed that Congress should have the entire control of commerce (the states had had 
it before). (See the Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 3.) Furthermore, it was 
agreed that the importation of slaves might be prohibited after 1808. (See the Constitution, 
Article I, Section 9, Paragraph i ; these slaves are called " such persons." The word " slave " 



74 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1787 



completed. The opening lines of the Constitution show first, 
who made it, and secondly, why they made it. It begins with 
these ever-memorable words : 






^J'^^TLC'^ 



After the convention had accepted the new Constitution, it was 
sent to the different states to be voted upon by the people. 
Those who favored it called themselves Federalists, while those 
who opposed it, because they thought it gave the national gov- 
ernment too much power, called themselves Anti- Federalists. 




The "Ship of State" 

But in time all of the states decided to adopt it. The man who 
did the most to convince them of the wisdom of such a course 

does not occur in the Constitution. It was also agreed that runaway slaves should be returned 
to their owners. (See the Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Paragraph 3, " No person 
[i.e. slave\ held to service^'' etc.) The first Fugitive-Slave Law was passed in 1793. 

If the compromises between the small states and the large, and the North and South, had 
not been made, the Constitution would have been rejected, and we should probably have 
split up into two or three hostile republics ; even after its adoption it took the better part 
of a year to get the states to ratify it. 



1789] WHAT THE NEW CONSTITUTION DID 175 

was Alexander Hamilton ^ of New York. When the city of New 
York celebrated the adoption of the Constitution (1788) a ship 
on wheels representing the '' Ship of State," or the Union,^ was 
drawn through the streets by ten milk-white horses. Hamilton's 
name was painted in large letters on the platform upholding 
the vessel. 

197. What the New Constitution did for the Country. The 
Constitution went into effect in 1789. It accomplished six great 
objects, not one of which was provided for in the old Articles of 
Confederation (§192). 

1. It gave the nation a head, the President of the United 
States, and made it his duty to see that the laws made by Con- 
gress should be faithfully enforced. 

2. It gave Congress full power to raise money by taxation to 
carry on and defend the national government. 

3. It gave every citizen of the United States equal rights in 
all the states, with liberty to buy and sell in all parts of the 
country. This secured freedom of trade throughout the Union. 

4. It gave Congress the control of all foreign commerce, and 
the sole right to levy duties or taxes on imported goods. 

5. It gave Congress the entire control of all the territory and 
public lands of the nation. 

6. It established the Supreme Court of the United States with 
full authority to decide all questions and disputes in regard to the 
powers of the national government. 

1 Alexander Hamilton was born in the West Indies, 1757. He went to New York in 
1772 and entered Columbia College. He took part in the Revolution and gained the 
friendship and esteem of Washington. After the Revolution he earnestly advocated 
the forming and adoption of the Federal Constitution. As Secretary of the Treasury of 
the United States he put the nation on a permanent financial basis. Many good judges 
consider him the ablest man who ever occupied that office. He restored public confidence 
and helped to establish trade and industry by his successful advocacy of the first tariff and 
the first United States Bank. Daniel Webster said of him : " He smote the rock of the 
national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead 
corpse of Public Credit and it sprung upon its feet." Hamilton was killed by Aaron Burr 
(§ 219) in a duel in 1804. The whole country felt the irreparable loss of this great states- 
man and patriot. 

2 See Longfellow's " Building of the Ship," last part, lines beginning 

" Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! 
Sail on, O Union, strong and great I " 



1/6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1789 

A few years later ten very important amendments were added 
to the Constitution. 1 They were called a '' Bill of Rights." They 
secured still further protection to the rights and liberties of the 
people. For this reason many of the Anti- Federalists (§ 196) who 
had strongly opposed the original Constitution now gave it their 
hearty support. 

198. Summary. The Revolution made us an independent 
people ; the Constitution completed the work by making us a 
united people, — a true American nation. Now, to use the words 
of John Adams, ''the thirteen clocks all struck together." 

1 The Amendments to the Constitution are certain additions to it made for the purpose 
of extending and improving it. See Appendix, pages xx-xxiv. Two more amendments 
were adopted between 1798 and 1S04, the Eleventh and Twelfth, the first of which exempted 
a state from suit " by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign 
state," and the second changed the method of electing the President of the United States. 
After the Civil War the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments were adopted 
relating to the emancipated slaves and to the reconstruction of the seceded states. Since 
then (191 3-1920) three more amendments have been adopted. The first of these relates 
to the income tax, the second to the election of United States senators, the third to the pro- 
hibition of the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors. The total number of amendments 
is now eighteen. 



V 

" This government, the offspring of your own choice, . . . adopted upon 
full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, 
. . . and containing, within itself, a provision for its own amendment, has a 
just claim to your confidence and respect." — President Washington's 
Farewell Address to the People of the United States^ September //, I7g6'. 



THE UNION — NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT^ 

(1789-1861) 
the federalist party in power 

George Washington (Federalist) 

199. Washington elected President (Two Terms, 1789- 1797); 
his Inauguration. We have seen (§ 196) that the FederaHsts 
and Anti- FederaHsts held opposite views about the Constitu- 
tion. But both agreed that Washington should be placed at the 
head of the new government. They accordingly united and unan- 
imously elected him the first President of the United States 
(i 789-1 793), and when his term of office expired he was re- 
elected (1 793-1 797). In both cases John Adams was chosen 
Vice President. New York City was then the capital of the 
country, but Philadelphia was made so a little later (1790), and 
ten years afterward the city of Washington became so perma- 
nently (1800). Washington was to be inaugurated on March 4 
(1789), the day the new Constitution went into operation; but 
the ceremony was delayed until April 30. The President took his 

1 Reference Books (Washington to John Adams, inclusive). A. B. Hart's 
" Formation of the Union," ch. 7-8 ; W. C. Bryant and Gay's " United States " 
(revised edition), IV, ch. 5-6; J. S. Bassett's "The Federalist System"; A. B. 
Hart's "American History by Contemporaries," III, ch. 12-15; A. B. Hart's 
" Source Book," ch. 1 1 ; J. Schouler's " United States," I, 74-500 ; J. B. McMaster's 
" United States," I, 540-604 ; II, 25-533 ; F. A. Walker's "Making of the Nation," 
ch. 5-8. See also the classified List of Books in the Appendix. 

177 



178 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1789 

stand on the balcony of the old Federal Hall in Wall Street where 
Congress met. 

The Chancellor of the state of New York then stepped for- 
ward and read to him the following oath of office required by the 
Constitution. 

'' I do solemnly szvear {or affirm) that I tvill faithfully execute 
the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best 

of my ability, preserve, 
protect, and defend the 
Constitntion of the United 
States:'^ 

Laying his hand on an 
open Bible, Washington 
replied, '' I swear — so help 
me God ! " Then amidst 
ringing of bells and firing 
of cannon, a great shout 
went up from the multitude 
of people in the street : 
" Long live George Wash- 
ington, President of the 
United States!" 

200. Washington's Cab- 
inet : how the Government 

President Washington 

raised Money. Washing- 
ton chose four eminent men, as members of his cabinet or private 
council, to aid him in the discharge of his presidential duties. 
For Secretary of State, to deal with the foreign affairs of the 
nation, he selected Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declara- 
tion of Independence ; for Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander 
Hamilton (§ 196); for Secretary of War, General Henry Knox; 
for Attorney-General, Edmund Randolph. 

Washington next appointed John Jay^ to the very important 
office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 

1 See Appendix, The Constitution, Article II, Section i, Paragraph 8. 

2 John Jay of New York was one of the signers of the treaty of peace with Great Britain (1783) . 




1789-1790] PAYING OUR JUST DEBTS 1/9 

States. These men did not all agree with Washington in political 
matters ; but they all reverenced him, and they were ready, like 
him, to do their utmost to promote the welfare and prosperity of 
the country. 

The new government began its great work with an empty 
treasury ; but a government can no more hope to live and pay its 
bills without money than you or I can. In order to obtain funds. 
Congress passed the first Tariff Act (1789). It imposed a mod- 
erate duty or tax on many foreign goods entering our ports. 

Another act levied a tonnage tax on foreign merchant ships 
coming to the United States. For instance, if a French vessel 
of six hundred tons loaded with wine came into New York, the 
owners would have to pay a duty of fifty cents a ton — or three 
hundred dollars on the vessel, and eighteen cents a gallon on the 
wine. Other articles, such as tea, silk, and sugar, were charged 
different rates. 

201. Paying Our Just Debts. Hamilton, who was Secretary 
of the Treasury (§ 200), got permission from Congress (1790) to 
use all the money obtained by the Tariff and Tonnage Acts, not 
needed for the expenses of the . government, to do three things : 

1. To pay back to France and to other countries what we had 
borrowed of them during the Revolution. 

2. To pay the debts we owed at home to our soldiers, and to 
those who had lent money to the government during the war. 

3. To pay the debts which the different states were owing to 
their own citizens for expenses which they had incurred in fighting 
the battles of the Revolution. 

Hamilton's wise and honest dealing put the credit of the United 
States on a sure foundation ; it enabled us to pay debts amounting 
to nearly $6,000,000, and to provide for the payment of many 
millions more. From that day. to this, we have always been able 
to borrow all the money we wanted. 

202. Counting the People in 1790 ; the First United States 
Bank ; the Mint. Meanwhile the first census was taken. It was 
a work of great importance, since it determined the number of 
representatives that could be elected to sit in Congress. The 



I80 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1790-1792 

number was fixed at i in every 33,000. It is now i in over 200,000. 
(See Appendix, Table of Representation.) 

That census showed that we had a total population of not 
quite 4,000,000, or far less than New York City has now. It 
showed, too, that nearly all the people lived on a narrow strip 
of country along the Atlantic coast and that most of them 
were farmers. Since then our population has grown to over 
100,000,000, and it has moved steadily westward. 

Next Hamilton (§ 201) persuaded Congress to establish the 
first Bank of the United States at Philadelphia (1791). Congress 
also established the first United States mint at the same place 




Movement Westward of the Center of Population from 
1790 TO 1910 

In 1790 the center of population (that is, the geographical point where the population is 
equal in number in all directions) was about twenty-five miles east of Baltimore. It 
has since moved westward, on nearly the same parallel, at the rate of about forty- 
seven miles every ten years. (The centers of population are shown by stars.) 

(1792). The Bank supplied the country with paper money, which 
could be used throughout the states. This was an immense help 
to all business men. 

With the opening of the mint we began our decimal system of 
coinage, — ten cents make a dime, ten dimes a dollar ; no system 
could be simpler or more convenient. 

203. The Rise of Political Parties; Arrival of *^ Citizen^* 
Genet; Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality. The discus- 
sion in Congress over the question of establishing the Bank of 
the United States (§ 202) gave rise to the first two regularly 
organized political parties — the Federalist and the Republican. 




Alexander Hamilton 



1 82 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1793-1797 

The members of the last-named party later called themselves 
Democratic-Republicans, but finally took the name Democrats, 
which name they still retain. (The Republican party of the present 
day did not come into* existence until nearly sixty years after the 
death of Washington.) Alexander Hamilton led the Federalist 
party and Thomas Jefferson the Republican or, as we should say^ 
the Democratic party. 

The Federalists believed in establishing a powerful national 
government, in order to keep the new-formed Union together. 
They thought that the proposed Bank of the United States would 
help this. 

The Republicans believed that the liberty of the people could 
best be preserved by strengthening the state governments. They 
feared that the national government, advocated by the Federal- 
ists, might lead to a monarchy. For this reason they str^Yiuously, 
but vainly, opposed the establishing of the Bank of the United 
States. 

During Washington's second presidency (i 793-1 797) France 
was engaged in a terrible revolution. The people had declared 
themselves a republic and beheaded their King. This led to a 
war between France and England. The French sent a minister 
to this country (1793) to get help to fight the English. He was 
styled '' Citizen " Genet, for, having abolished all titles of honor 
and respect, the French could not endure even so simple a title 
as Mr. He came here expecting to obtain ships, money, and aid 
from the government. Thousands of our people welcomed him 
with wild enthusiasm. But Washington feared that if " Citizen " 
Genet had his own way he would speedily drag the country into 
a new war with England. 

The President therefore issued a proclamation of neutrality 
(i793)> stating that we should take no part in European quarrels. 
This proclamation so maddened the excitable Genet that he en- 
deavored to stir up a mob in Philadelphia, to pull Washington 
from his seat of office, and overturn the government of the United 
States. The result was that, at Washington's protest, France re- 
called her minister, and nothing more was heard of him. 



1797] 



EMIGRATION TO THE WEST 



183 



204. Emigration to the West ; Cincinnati. Meanwhile, a great 
movement of population had begun toward the country west of 
the Alleghenies, — that section in which Washington had so deep 
an interest (§ 138). Sevier, Robertson, and other pioneers from 
the Carolinas had built cabins in the Tennessee country ; and 
Daniel Boone, the famous hunter from the same region, followed 
by his bold companions, had chopped a narrow path across the 
wilderness to Kentucky ; by the beginning of the Revolution the 
Americans had got a firm foot- 
hold in that fertile region. 

Emigrants crossed the moun- 
tains and formed settlements 
on the rich lands of the Ohio 
Valley. Marietta, on that river, 
was already established (1788). 
A cluster of log huts, which 
had been built further down 
the river in the same year, now 
(1790) received the name of 
Cincinnati.^ There, not long 
after (1793), the first west- 
ern newspaper — the Sentinel 
of the Northwest — was pub- 
lished, and the corner stone 
laid of the state of Ohio, the first of all that magnificent group of 
states formed from the Northwest Territory (§ 195), which were 
one by one (i 803-1 848) to knock at the doors of Congress and 
gain admission to the Union. 

These settlements were made at heavy cost of life. The Indians 
rose, resolved to kill or drive out the invaders. After four years 
of fighting the savages were defeated in a final battle. General 
Wayne (§ 183) — ''the chief that never slept" — forced them to 
sign a treaty of peace (1795) by which they gave up the greater 
part of the Ohio country to the whites. 

1 The city was named in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati (a name derived from 
Cincinnatus, a noted Roman patriot). The society was organized by the officers of the 
Revolutionary army, headed by Washington. 



tiiiiiiiimMMh^ 




Boone's W^ilderness Road 



1 84 LEADING FACTS 0F AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1793 



205. The Manufacture of Cotton; Whitney invents the Cotton 
Gin, 1793; Results. The year (1793) that the printing press 
in that enterprising log city of Cincinnati began sending out its 
weekly budget of news (§ 204) a great event occurred among the 
cotton planters at the South. 

Before Washington became President attempts had been made 
to establish the manufacture of cotton, by hand, in the United 
States. Moses Brown, a Providence Quaker, wrote to Samuel 
Slater in England, urging him to emigrate to this country and set 
up a cotton-spinning mill here. He said to him, " If thou canst 
do this thing, I invite thee to come to Rhode Island and have 
the credit of introducing cotton manufacture (by water power) in 

America." Mr. Slater was 
just the man who could '' do 
this thing," and he did it 
at Pawtucket, Rhode Island 
(1790). 

Yet the manufacture of 
cotton did not grow rapidly 
because the southern states 
had not then found any 
quick method of freeing the 
common cotton fiber from 
the multitude of seeds it 
contains. By working a whole day a negro could only clean about 
a pound. This made raw cotton expensive. 

In 1784 we had exported 8 bags, or about 3000 pounds, of cotton 
to Liverpool. It was seized by the English customhouse officers, 
on the ground that the United States could not have produced 
such a *' prodigious quantity," and that the captain of the vessel 
must have smuggled it from some other country. In 1793 Eli 
Whitney, a Massachusetts teacher then living in Georgia, invented 
a machine which he called the '' cotton gin." By using this new 
machine a negro could easily clean at least 300 pounds of cotton a 
day. This changed the whole question of cotton production and 
cotton manufacture in this country. The result was soon seen. 




The Cotton Gin 



1803-1814] WHITNEY INVENTS THE COTTON GIN 185 

Ten years after the machine had gone into operation (1803), 
we were exporting over 100,000 bags of cotton, or more than 
40,000,000 pounds, and every year saw an enormous increase. 
The effect of Whitney's invention was equally marked here. Up 
to this time, and much later, the cotton yarn spun in our mills 
was all woven into cloth by hand in private houses. But Francis 
C. Lowell of Massachusetts determined to establish a cotton fac- 
tory on a large scale, which could produce cloth like that made 
in England. He constructed the first loom operated by water 
power in America. He then built at Waltham, Massachusetts, 
the first cotton mill in the world in which the raw material, just 
as it came from Whitney's cotton gin, was spun into thread, 
woven into cloth, and printed in colors all under one roof (18 14). 
Later, the great cotton-manufacturing city of Lowell was named 
in his honor. 

Before this, many men in both sections of the country had 
deplored the holding of slaves. They had earnestly discussed how 
to rid the country of what was felt to be both an evil in itself 
and a danger to the nation. The invention of the cotton gin put 
a stop to this discussion in great measure ; for now the Southern 
planters and the .Northern manufacturers of cotton both found it 
to their interest to keep the negro in bondage, since by his labor 
they were rapidly growing rich. 

To sum up : Whitney's great invention of 1793 did four things : 

1. It stimulated the production of cotton and made it one of 
the leading industries of the country. 

2. It increased our cotton exports enormously. 

3. It caused the building of great numbers of cotton mills at 
the North. 

4. It made a large class, both North and South, interested in 
maintaining slave labor.^ 

1 Whitney received ^50,000 for his invention from South Carolina, besides something 
from several other southern states. Other notable American inventors of this period were : 
(i) Oliver Evans of Newport, Delaware, who, about 1780, invented the grain elevator, and 
made such improvements in milling that he "effected a revolution in the manufacture of 
flour." In 1803 he constructed the first steam dredge for deepening the channels of rivers. 
(2) Jacob Perkins of Newburyport, Massachusetts, invented (1790) the first practical nail 
machine ; it was capable of cutting out two hundred thousand nails a day. Formerly, all nails 



1 86 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1814 



206. The Whisky Rebellion ; Treaty with Spain. During Wash- 
ington's second term of office, the government, finding that it needed 
more money, imposed (i 794) a heavy duty or tax on the manufacture 
of whisky. The whisky producers in western Pennsylvania refused 
to pay the duty, tarred and feathered one officer sent to collect it, 
and flogged a second one with beech rods. Next, they took up 
arms to resist the law. 

Washington sent an army of 1 5,000 men, mostly Pennsylvanians, 
to teach them how to behave. When the whisky distillers and their 

friends caught sight of the 
muskets, they prudently 
dispersed. They saw that 
if any shooting was to be 
done, the President could 
do a good deal more than 
they could. 

The following year (i 795) 
the United States made a 
very important treaty with 
Spain. It secured the right 
to the southwestern states 
to send their corn and 
pork to the Spanish port 
of New Orleans and ship 
it abroad. The treaty also 
recognized the right of the 
United States to territory west of Georgia, which Spain had claimed 
as part of her possessions. (Map, p. 172.) 

207. Jay's Treaty with England (1795). The treaty of peace 
with Great Britain, made in 1783 (§ 191), had not been satisfac- 
torily carried out by either party. We had promised to pay certain 
debts due to British subjects, and they complained that we did not 
keep our word. On the other hand, England persisted in holding 

were made by hand. Later, he invented a greatly improved machine for " calico printing." 
(3) Asa Whittemore of Cambridge, Massachusetts, invented (1797) a machine for making 
wire cards for carding wool, " which operated, and still continues to operate, as if it had a 
soul." On later American inventions see §§ 220, 252, 284. 




The Whisky Rebellion. Beech Rods 



1814] JAY'S TREATY 187 

forts at Detroit and elsewhere along our northern frontier, though 
she had agreed to give them up to us. The English also interfered 
with our trade with France. Chief Justice Jay (§ 200) went to Eng- 
land and obtained a new treaty (i 795). It did not satisfy the people, 
who thought that the English were getting the best of the bar- 
gain ; but the forts were given up to us. Washington signed the 
treaty because he believed that we could not then demand any- 
thing better. 

Certain newspapers attacked him and Jay in the most violent 
manner, and Washington, worn out with their abuse, declared that 
*' he would rather be in his grave than in the presidency." The 
majority of the people, however, stood firmly by the man who had 
brought them through so many dangers, and Congress confirmed 
the treaty. When Washington retired from office he issued a fare- 
well address in which he besought his fellow-citizens to cherish 
affection for each other, to cherish their love for the Union, and 
to '' observe good faith and justice towards all nations." 

He left the whole country in every way stronger and more 
prosperous than he had found it, and with the three new states 
of Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee (i 791-1796) added to 
the Union. 

208. Summary. Washington, the first President of the United 
States, held office for two terms (i 789-1 797). During that time 
he, with his cabinet, got the new government into practical opera- 
tion, and through the wise counsel of Hamilton our national credit 
was solidly established. Washington's efforts prevented the nation 
from getting entangled in European wars at a time when our great- 
est need was peace. He also succeeded in making a very important 
treaty with Spain and another with England. Three new states had 
been added ; Marietta and Cincinnati had taken firm root, and the 
vigorous life of the West had begun. Whitney's invention of the 
cotton gin had an immense effect on manufacturing and commerce, 
greatly increasing the wealth of both North and South, but unfortu- 
nately it also fastened slave labor on the country. 



1 88 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1797-1801 

John Adams (Federalist) 

209. Adams' Administration (Second President, One Term, 
1797-1801); the **X. Y. Z. Papers." Mr. Adams' ^ presidency 
began with strong prospects of war with France. The French 
were enraged because we did not take sides with them in their 
contest with Great Britain (§ 203). They captured our merchant 
vessels, sold them openly in French ports, and insulted the states- 
men sent by us to France to represent the United States. Finally, 
certain private agents of the French authorities made demands, 
threatening war unless we bribed them with money — "much 
money" — to keep peace. Pinckney, one of our representatives 
in France, indignant at such treatment, replied, '' Millions for 
defense ; not one cent for tribute." 

President Adams substituted the letters X. Y. Z. for the names 
of the French agents, and sent a full report of the demands to 
Congress. The ''X. Y. Z. Papers " roused the whole country, 
and Pinckney's defiant words were echoed throughout America, 
for sooner than spend a single copper in buying peace we were 
ready to fight at any cost. War soon broke out, and our sailors, 
with shouts of '' Hail Columbia," the new song which every Amer- 
ican was then singing, fought and captured several French vessels. 
When Napoleon Bonaparte came into power in France (1799), 
he speedily made peace. 

210. The Alien 2 and the Sedition Laws ; the Kentucky and Vir- 
ginia Resolutions (1798-1799); Death of Washington. Several 
of the American newspapers were edited by foreigners, or by men 
who sympathized with France and were anxious to force us into a 
war with England. To put a stop to their constant abuse of the 

1 John Adams was born in Braintree, near Boston, in 1735 ; died 1826. Thomas Jefferson 
said of him that " he was the ablest advocate and champion of independence " in the Con- 
gress of 1776. He was one of the commissioners who negotiated the treaty of peace with 
Great Britain at the close of the Revolution ; and he was shortly after sent as minister from 
the United States to England. He was elected by the Federalists (§ 203) by only three 
electoral votes over Thomas Jefferson, the Republican (or Democratic) candidate (Adams 
had 71 votes, Jefferson 68). Mr. Adams used to call himself " the President of three votes." 
According to the law (since changed) (see the Constitution, Article II, Paragraph 3), the 
candidate for President getting the largest vote next to the one elected was made Vice 
President. This law gave that office to Jefferson. 2 Alien (ale'yen). 



1798-] 



DEATH OF WASHINGTON 



89 



government, Congress, with the 
approval of Mr. Adams, passed 
(1798) the AHen and the Sedition 
Laws. The Ahen Law gave the 
President the power to banish any 
ahen or foreigner from the coun- 
try whose influence he thought 
dangerous to our welfare. The 
President never enforced the law. 
The Sedition Law undertook to 
punish persons who should speak, 
write, or publish anything false 
or malicious against the President 
or the government of the United 
States. Under it several persons 
were heavily fined, and at least 
one was imprisoned. 

The legislatures of Kentucky 
and Virginia passed resolutions 
( 1 798-1 799) which denounced the 
Alien and Sedition Laws as dan- 
gerous, and contrary to the Consti- 
tution. They furthermore declared 
that should the President persist in 
enforcing them, the states would 
have the right to refuse to obey 
his commands. Both laws soon 
passed out of existence ; but the 
idea that states might resist the 
national government, if they saw 
fit, was destined to make trouble 
many years later in South Caro- 
lina (§§ 267-269) and in the end it 
resulted in civil war (i 861-1865). 

During the excitement caused by 
these unpopular laws, Washington 



Kew-VorK, Bcceinber it. 




IT IS with the deepeft grief t!iat 
\^e announce to the public the deslh 
of our mo/i df/ilnguijhed fellow-citf- 
2en L'uut. Central George Wajhing' 
on. 

The grief which we fu5er on "dus 
rruly mournful occafion, would* be 
in fome degree aleviated, if ve pof 
fcffed abiliries to do julticc to thi 
aierits of this ilJu/irious benefaSlar oi 
manJi'ind ; but, confcious of our in^ 
feriority, we fhrink from the fubU 
mity of the fubjeft. 

Our feelings, however, will 
not permit us to forbear obfcf ving, 
ihat the very difinterefted and tm 
poriant ferviccs rendered by Cccrp 
'^Vafblngton to thefe United btattt 
both in the Field and in the Cabinet, 
have ereSed in the hearts of his 
countrymen, monuments of fmcerc 
and unbounded gratitude, which 
the mouldering hand of Timccan 
nol deface ; and that in every quar 
ter of the Gbbe, where 1 tree Co 
vawiment is ranked amongH the 
clioiccfl bfe/Hngs of Providence, ond 
virtue, morahiy, reUgton, and patriC' 
tifm are refpedled, THE NAME of 
WTASHINGTON will be held in 
venetatloTt, • 



igo LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1799 

died at his home at Mt. Vernon (i 799). The whole country united 
to do honor to the memory of him who was '' first in war, first in 
peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens " ; Bonaparte 
ordered public mourning for him in France, and Lord Bridport, 
commander of a British fleet of nearly sixty men-of-war, lying off 
the coast of England, testified his respect by ordering his flags to 
be lowered to half-mast. 

211. Summary. The four chief events of Adams' presidency 
were (i) the excitement caused by the ''X. Y. Z. Papers," fol- 
lowed by war on the sea with France ; (2) the passage of the 
Alien and the Sedition Laws ; (3) the Kentucky and the Virginia 
Resolutions ; and (4) the death of Washington. 



VI 

" Whenever our affairs go obviously wrong, the good sense of the people 
will interpose and set them right." — Jefferson's Writings. 

the democratic party in power 

Thomas Jefferson (Democrat) ^ 

212. Jefferson's Administration (Third President, Two Terms, 
1801-1809); ** Republican Simplicity*'; the New National Capi- 
tal ; Jefferson's Appointments to Office. The new President ^ called 
himself a Democratic-Republican, or, as we should say to-day, a 
Democrat (§ 203). He prided himself on taking his stand with 
the people. In dress, manners, and ideas he was quite different 
from the Federalist Presidents, Washington and Adams. They 
both thought it proper for the head of the nation to stand a little 
apart from the people ; both were opposed to monarchy, yet they 

1 Reference Books (Jefferson to J. Q. Adams, inclusive). A. B. Hart's " Forma- 
tion of the Union," ch. 9-12 ; W. C. Bryant and Gay's " United States" (revised 
edition), IV, 145-291; E. Channing's "The Jeffersonian System"; K, C. Bab- 
cock's " Rise of American Nationality " (War of 1812, etc.) ; F. J. Turner's " Rise 
of the New West " ; A. B. Hart's "American History by Contemporaries," ch. 16- 
23; A. B. Hart's "Source Book," ch. 12-14; J- Schouler's "United States," II, 
III, ch. 10-12; J. B. McMaster's "United States," II, 526-635; III, IV, V, 
1-523. See also the classified List of Books in the Appendix. 

2 Thomas Jefferson was bom 1743, ^^ Shadwell, Virginia; died 1826. He was a member 
of the Continental Congress and drafted the Declaration of Independence ; he also drew up 
the Act of Religious Freedom adopted by Virginia through Madison's influence in 1785. 
He proposed our present decimal system of coinage and secured its acceptance. In 1785 he 
was sent to France to succeed Franklin as minister of the United States. On his tombstone 
is the following epitaph written by himself : " Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of 
the Declaration of Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and the 
father of the University of Virginia." The presidential election of November, 1800, was a 
time of great excitement, and of bitter strife between the Federalists and the Republicans 
(or Democrats (§ 203)). Thomas Jefferson of Virginia and Aaron Burr of New Jersey were 
the Republican candidates. Each received 73 electoral votes ; while John Adams, the Feder- 
alist candidate, got but 65. In such a case the House of Representatives — a majority of 
whom were Federalists — had to decide the election ; they finally voted in favor of Jefferson, 
and he was declared President, with Burr for Vice President. This period marks the down- 
fall of the Federalists ; for the next forty years the Democrats held control. 

191 



192 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1801 

kept up something of the dignity and ceremony of a king. Jef- 
ferson preferred, on the contrary, '' repubUcan simpHcity " in all 
things, and was ready to receive and shake hands with any one 
and every one that wanted to shake hands with him. 

Jefferson took the oath of ofhce (§ 199) in the new capitol, 
which was ridiculed as a " palace in the woods." It stood on a 
hill in the ''city of Washington" (§ 199), then nothing but a 
straggling village of a few hundred inhabitants. Washington, for 
whom it was named, had himself chosen the ground for the city. 

When Jefferson entered office he found only Federalists (§§ 196, 
203) in the employ of the government. He naturally wished that 
men of his own party should hold such offices, and when oppor- 
tunities came he appointed Democrats to fill them. From this 
time on, for many years, each new President gave government 
employment to those who had voted for him. 

213. What was thought of the Probable Extent of the Republic. 
Eminent men of that day thought it very doubtful whether the 
American republic could permanently extend into the wilderness 
beyond the Allegheny Mountains. Many agreed with them, and 
believed that in time the country would be divided into several 
nations: They thought it would be impossible for the President 
to enforce the laws over a territory reaching from the Atlantic to 
the Mississippi. When we consider that there were then no steam- 
boats, canals, or railways to bind the states together, and in fact 
very few good ordinary roads, it does not seem strange that men 
of sound judgment should have thought so. 

214. What Our New Navy taught the Pirates of Tripoli. For 
many years Tripoli and other towns on the north coast of Africa 
had been nests of Mohammedan pirates. They sent out fast-sailing 
armed vessels to capture the ships of Christians coming to the 
Mediterranean to trade. 

European nations had made repeated efforts to break up this 
system of robbery, but had not succeeded. Even Great Britain 
was obliged to pay the governors of Algiers and Tripoli large 
sums of money every year in order to protect her commerce in 
that quarter of the globe. We, too, felt obliged to buy the good 



1801-1803] NATIONAL EXPANSION 193 

will of these pirates. At one time we paid the ruler of Tripoli 
^20,000 a year to let our merchant vessels sail the Mediterranean 
in peace. Furthermore, we spent ^1,000,000 in freeing Ameri- 
can sailors that were held as slaves in Tripoli. Part of this money 
was given by the government and part of it was collected in the 
churches on Sunday. 

The Governor of Tripoli, disappointed because we did not yield 
to his demands and give him a still larger tribute, declared war 
(1801) against the United States. Jefferson was a man of peace, 
but he believed with Benjamin Franklin that " if you make your- 
self a sheep, the wolves will eat you." He thought we had been 
sheep long enough. The United States had recently completed 
(i 798-1 799) a small fleet of first-class war ships. They were com- 
manded by such men as Barry (§ 169), Bainbridge, Decatur, Preble, 
and Truxtun. The President sent them out to Tripoli, and they soon 
made the ruler of that place confess his sins and beg for mercy. 

The Pope declared that the Americans had done more toward 
punishing the insolent power of the Mohammedan pirates than all 
the nations of Europe put together. The Governor of Tripoli was 
glad to make a new treaty (1805) with the United States. He gave 
up asking tribute from us, and he agreed to let our merchant ships 
and sailors alone in future. 

215. Our First Step in National Expansion, Purchase of Loui- 
siana Territory, 1803. While this war with Tripoli was going on, 
the greatest event of Jefferson's presidency occurred. France had 
recovered possession of the province of Louisiana (1800), includ- 
ing New Orleans (§ 143). Napoleon Bonaparte, who was then about 
to engage in a tremendous contest with England, was afraid that 
when war broke out the English would send over a fleet and take 
Louisiana out of his hands. For that reason he was willing to sell 
it to the United States — especially as the money would help him 
to fit out his armies against Great Britain. In 1803, the year that 
Ohio entered the Union, President Jefferson bought the whole terri- 
tory of Louisiana for $15,000,000. By so doing he got the very 
heart of the American continent, reaching from the Mississippi 
back to the Rocky Mountains. He thus, at one stroke, more than 



194 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1803-1806 



doubled the area of the United States, getting nearly 900,000 
square miles, or over 560,000,000 acres, for less than three cents 
an acre. (Map, p. 194.) 

There were people who grumbled at the purchase. Some even, 
denied that Jefferson had the right to make it, — but the majority 
heartily supported the President. He himself confessed that he 
had stretched his power " till it cracked," in order to complete the 
bargain. In reality Jefferson showed his statesmanship in the act. 

The Purchase of Louisiana did 
these four things : 

1 . It prevented disputes with 
France about the territory. 

2 . It prevented England from 
getting control of it. 

3. It gave us a large part of 
the Great West — that is, all 
of it beyond the Mississippi to 
the Rocky Mountains. 

4. It made us masters of the 
entire Mississippi River, with 
the city of New Orleans to boot. 

216. Lewis and Clark's Ex- 
ploration of the Far West ; Our 
Claim to Oregon. The next year 
(1804) the President sent out an expedition under Lewis and Clark 
to explore the new territory. They started from St. Louis (May 1 4, 
1804), then a little village of log cabins, and worked their way, 
in boats, up the Missouri. About the middle of July (1805) they 
reached the ''Gates of the Rocky Mountains,"^ a long, deep, 
narrow gorge, through which the river forces its way. This point 
is over twenty-six hundred miles from St. Louis, and it had taken 
the explorers more than a year to get to it. With an Indian girl 

1 The " Gates of the Rocky Mountains " are near the point where Helena, the capital of 
Montjina, is now situated. A short distance above, the Jeiferson, Gallatin, and Madison rivers 
unite to form the Missouri. Lewis and Clark ascended the Jefferson to its source, crossed the 
Rocky Mountains, and embarked on a branch of the Snake, or Lewis, River, which flows into 
the Columbia. 




Jefferson signing the Louisiana 
Purchase Papers 



1805-1806] LEWIS AND CLARK'S EXPLORATION 



195 



for their guide, they made their way across the mountains to the 
head waters of a stream flowing westward. 

Launching their canoes (October 7, 1805) on its swift current, 
they floated down till they entered a far larger river. Down this 
they drifted, sometimes through perilous rapids, until they came at 
last (November 7, 1805) to its mouth. A dense fog hid everything. 
When it lifted, they found themselves within sight of the Pacific 
Ocean. The river they had descended was that which Captain 
Robert Gray of Boston (who first carried the American flag round the 
globe) entered from the Pacific, and named the Columbia (1792); 
he thus gave us our 
first claim to Oregon. 

The explorers re- 
turned the next year 
(1806) to St. Louis. 
They had been ab- 
sent nearly two years 
and a half. They had 
traveled, in all, over 
eight thousand miles, 
in boats, on horseback, 
and on foot, through a 
wilderness peopled only 
by savages. Lewis and 
Clark's expedition gave 
the people of this country their first idea of the immense extent, un- 
limited natural wealth, and almost fabulous wonders of the Far West. 

But the most important result of the expedition was that it gave 
the United States a much stronger claim to the Oregon territory, 
which Captain Gray had entered, but which Lewis and Clark first 
crossed. Five years later (18 11) John Jacob Astor ^ of New York, 
then the richest man in America, built the fur-trading post of 
Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River. (Map, p. 194.) 

1 Astor planned a line of fur-trading posts, extending from the Great Lakes to the 
Pacific, and thence to the Sandwich Islands and China. The War of 1812 put a stop to this 
immense undertaking. He died in 1848, leaving a property of twenty million dollars, which 
has since increased enormously. 




Lewis and Clark at the Gates of the 
Rocky Mountains 



196 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1807 

217. Effect of the French and English War on the United 
States; the Leopard and the Chesapeake, During all this time 
France and England continued at war (§ 203). Each of these 
nations forbade the United States to trade with the other. . This 
in itself was disastrous to our commerce ; but, as if this was not 
enough, England insisted on stopping our vessels on the ocean 
and searching them for British sailors. Unless a man could prove 
that he was an American by birth, the English seized him, espe- 
cially if he was an able-bodied seaman, and compelled him to enter 
their service. In this way they had helped themselves to several 
thousand men, whom they forced to fight for them on board their 
ships of war. Finally (1807), the British man-of-war Z^^/^r<^ 
stopped the Chesapeake, one of our war vessels, at a time when 
the latter could make no effectual resistance, and seized four of 
her men, one of whom they hanged as a deserter. 

218. The Embargo and the Non-Intercourse Acts. Congress 
passed the Embargo Act (1807) to put an end to these outrages. 
The Embargo forbade the sailing of any American vessel from 
any of our ports, — even a fishing smack found it difficult to leave 
Boston to get mackerel. Congress hoped that by stopping all trade 
with Europe we should be able to starve France and England into 
treating us with respect. 

But we did not starve them ; our exports fell off ^40,000,000 in a 
single year, and the loss of trade caused great distress and discontent. 

At last New England grew desperate ; there seemed danger 
of rebellion, possibly of disunion, if the Embargo Act was not 
repealed. Congress did repeal it, and (1809) passed an act, called 
the Non- Intercourse Act, which forbade the people to trade with 
Great Britain and France, but gave them liberty to trade with 
other foreign countries. But though our exports rose, yet many 
men who had been engaged in commerce turned their attention 
now to manufacturing. This was one of the important results of 
the Non-Intercourse Act, since many of the manufactories of the 
country had their beginning at that time. 

219. Burr tried for Treason. Meanwhile (1807), Aaron Burr, 
who had been Vice President during Jefferson's first term, was tried 



1807] 



FULTON'S FOLLY 



197 



for treason.! Burr had shot Alexander Hamilton (§§ 196, 200), 
his political opponent, in a duel. That act, hardly different from 
downright murder, brought him into disgrace. Later, Burr planned 
an. enterprise for conquering Texas, which then belonged to Spain. 
He probably hoped to get some of the western states to join him, 
and to set up an independent nation in the southwest, with New 
Orleans for its capital ; he, of course, 
meant to be its chief ruler. Burr's guilt 
was not clearly proved, and he was per- 
mitted to go free. He died in obscurity 
and poverty in New York. 

220. ^^Fulton^s Folly," 1807. While 
Burr's trial was going on, Robert Fulton,- 
who had built a boat to use under water 
in war, — the ''submarine" of to-day 
(§441), — launched, on the Hudson, 
the first successful steamboat. He gave 
notice that he should start from New 
York City for Albany. Up to that date 
all the trade and travel on the river 
had been either by sailing vessels or 

rowboats. Men called the steamboat " Fulton's Folly." Thousands 
gathered at the wharf (August 17, 1807) to laugh and jeer at the 
expected failure of the invention. 

The steamboat — the Clermont — was a rude affair, with un- 
covered paddle wheels and clumsy machinery. Men said that she 
was as *' helpless as a log." Presently the paddles began to revolve. 
Then the " log" was no longer helpless. " She moves ! " " She 
moves ! " shouted the astonished crowd. Sure enough, she did 




Fulton's Steamboat 



1 Treason : an attempt to overthrow the government or break up the Union by force of 
arms. Burr was accused of having intended to seize New Orleans by force of arms. This 
charge of treason was set aside by the court on the ground that the Constitution did not 
uphold it. (See Appendix, the Constitution, Article III, Section 3.) 

2 Robert Fulton was bom in Fulton, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1765. He was of 
Irish descent. John Fitch of Windsor, Connecticut, had invented a steamboat many years 
before, and tried in vain to get Benjamin Franklin to help him make it a success. In 171)8 
he became discouraged, and committed suicide. In his journal he left these words: "The 
day will come when some more powerful man will get fame and riches from my invention." 



198 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1807-1809 

move ; and she kept on moving against both wind and current, 
until, in thirty-two hours, she reached Albany. 

In a few years Fulton's great invention made a complete change 
in modes of travel. Steamboats were put on the Ohio, the Missis- 
sippi, and the Great Lakes, and helped to open up and settle the 
western part of the United States. A number of years later (i 8 19), 
the ship Savannah 'was fitted up with paddle wheels that could be 
propelled by steam. She started from Savannah, Georgia, and 
crossed the Atlantic. But nothing further was done in that direc- 
tion for twenty years ; then Great Britain sent out (1840) the first 
regular line of ocean steamers to America (§ 280). From that time 
to this such vessels have made trips, backward and forward across 
the Atlantic, with the regularity of clockwork. 

221. The Importatioa of Slaves forbidden. The year following 
Fulton's triumph Congress put a stop to the importation of slaves 
(§ 196, note I, paragraph 4) into the United States (1808). The 
law had the hearty support of President Jefferson. He, like 
Washington and most leading men of that day of the South, was 
a slaveholder. But, like Washington and many other influential 
Southerners, he hoped that the country would find some peaceful 
means of freeing the negroes. Jefferson, in particular, was beloved 
by his slaves, and would gladly have given them their liberty, if 
he could have clearly seen how to do it. He continued to hold 
them, as many other good men did, but he said, '' I tremble for 
my country, when I reflect that God is just." 

222. Summary. Jefferson was our first Democratic President. 
He purchased the territory of Louisiana, thereby more than doub- 
ling the area of the United States, and sent Lewis and Clark to 
explore the country to the Pacific. During Jefferson's administra- 
tion Fulton invented the first successful steamboat and established 
steam navigation on the Hudson ; the pirates of Tripoli and 
Algiers were conquered ; the importation of slaves was stopped ; 
and on account of trouble with Great Britain and France, Congress 
passed the Embargo and the Non-Intercourse Acts restraining 
our foreign trade. 



MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION 



199 



James Madison (Democrat) 

223. Madison's Administration (Fourth President, Two Terms, 
1 809-1 81 7) ; Reopening of Trade with Great Britain. When 
Madison^ became President, Great Britain and France were ac- 
tively at war, and our ships were still forbidden by Act of Con- 
gress (§218) to trade with either country. The President was 
anxious to reopen commerce with one or both. Mr. Erskine, 
the British minister at Washington, gave Madison to understand 
that England would 
let our vessels sail 
the seas unmolested, 
if we would promise 
to send our wheat, 
rice, cotton, fish, and 
other exports to her 
and her friends, but 
refuse them to her 
enemy, France. The 
agreement was made. 

More than a thou- 
sand of our vessels, 
loaded with grain 
and other American 
products, were waiting impatiently for the President to grant them 
liberty to sail for Great Britain. He spoke the word, and they 
*' spread their white wings like a flock of long-imprisoned birds, 

1 James Madison of Virginia and Alexander Hamilton of New York were among the 
foremost of the distinguished statesmen who framed the Constitution and aided Washington 
in organizing the government. Madison not only drafted the main features of the Constitu- 
tion, but offered the first ten amendments, adopted 1791. 

Madison furthermore obtained the passage of the Religious Freedom Act of Virginia 
(originally drawn by Jefferson in 1778), 1785, by which entire religious liberty was granted, 
and all taxes for the support of public worship, and all religious tests for holding office in 
that state, were forbidden. In this great reform Virginia led every state, not excepting 
Rhode Island, in some respects, and set an example followed in the Constitution of the 
United States (see the Constitution, Article VI, Paragraph 3). Madison was bom in King 
George County, Virginia, in 175 1 ; died 1836. 

Madison (with George Clinton of New York, Vice President) was elected President by 
the Republican, or Democratic, party (§203). 




The Sailing of Our Ships 



200 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1809-1812 

and flew out to sea." A great shout of joy went up from the farmers, 
merchants, and shipowners, for they beheved that the fleet of vessels 
would return to fill thousands of empty pockets with welcome dollars. 
But England denied having authorized Mr. Erskine to make such 
an agreement. The result was that our trade stopped as suddenly as 
it began, and New England was filled with angry disappointment. 

224. How Napoleon deceived us. Next, Napoleon, Emperor of 
the French, had a word of promise for us. He had seized and 
sold hundreds of our ships because we would not aid him in his 
war against England. He now agreed to let our commerce alone, 
provided we would bind ourselves not to send any of our produce 
to Great Britain, but would let him and his friends have what they 
wanted to buy. Napoleon's offer was a trick to deceive us, and 
to get us into trouble with England. We agreed to his terms ; 
he did not keep his word, and the ill feeling between England 
and America was made still more bitter. 

225. Tecumseh's Conspiracy ; Battle of Tippecanoe. Meanwhile, 
it was discovered that Tecumseh, a famous Indian chief of Ohio, 
had succeeded in uniting the savage tribes of the West in a plot 
to drive out the white settlers. General William H. Harrison, who 
became President thirty years later (1841), met the Indians at 
Tippecanoe, in the territory of Indiana, and defeated them in a 
great battle (181 1). (Map, p. 203.) Tecumseh was not in that 
battle ; but he took a leading part in later ones, led by the Eng- 
lish. Many Americans believed that England had secretly encour- 
aged Tecumseh's plot. This belief helped to increase the desire 
of the majority for war with Great Britain, 

226. The War of 1812; the Henry Letters; the Real Cause 
of the War; its Declaration. At this time a man named Henry 
declared that the English government in Canada had employed 
him to try to persuade the New England States to leave the Union 
and join Canada. He showed a bundle of letters in proof of the 
story. Madison paid Henry ^50,000 for his bundle. The letters 
were a fraud and Henry was a rascal ; but, for a time, both the 
President and Congress were deceived by this swindler, and our 
hatred of Great Britain burned hotter than ever» 



1812] 



HULL'S MARCH TO DETROIT 



2oi 



The real, final cause of the war, however, lay in the fact that 
England persisted in exercising her assumed '' right of search " 
(§ 217). Her war ships stopped our merchant vessels, took Ameri- 
can seamen out of them, and forced them, under the sting of the 
lash, to enter her service and fight her battles. ^ Her excuse was 
that she seized men who were British subjects and who had de- 
serted and entered our service. This was true in some cases, but 
England made no discrimination, but took any able-bodied sailor 
she fancied. This was an outrage that we could no longer bear ; 
several thousand of our citizens had been kidnaped, but England 
refused to stop these acts of 
violence. For this reason Con- 
gress declared war in the sum- 
mer of 1812. New England, 
knowing that such a war would 
ruin what commerce she had, 
was opposed to fighting ; but 
the rest of the country thought 
differently, and with a hurrah 
for '* Free Trade and Sailors' 
Rights "2 the war began. 

227. Hull's March to De- 
troit ; his Surrender. Our plan 
was to attack Canada, and, if 
all went well, to annex it. In 
expectation of the war. General 

William Hull had been ordered to march from Urbana, Ohio, 
to Detroit. Hull had served in the Revolution, and Washington 
spoke of him as ''an officer of great merit." In order to reach 
Detroit he had to build two hundred miles of road through for- 
ests and swamps. It was a tremendous piece of work. Hull did 

1 England denied that a British subject could become an American citizen. This was 
at a time when she was short of sailors in her navy, and used to send gangs of sailors 
ashore in England at night, with handcuffs and gags, to seize men and drag them off to 
fight against France. 

2 By " Free Trade " we meant freedom to send our merchant ships to what ports we 
pleased ; by " Sailors' Rights " we meant the protection of American seamen against seizure 
by the British. 




Seizing American Seamen 



202 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1812 



it, and reached Detroit. He did not get the news that we had 
declared war, until after the Canadians had got it, and had cut off 
most of the supplies of provisions and powder that he was expect- 
ing to receive. The forests back of Detroit were full of hostile 
savages ; in front was the English general Brock, with a force of 
Canadians and Indians. Brock summoned Hull to surrender. 

Without waiting to be attacked, without firing a single gun at 
the enemy, Hull hoisted .a white tablecloth as a signal to Brock, 
gave up the fort, and with it Detroit and Michigan. For this act 
he was tried by a court of American army officers, convicted of 

cowardice, and sentenced to be 
shot ; but President Madison 
pardoned him because of his 
services in the Revolution.^ 

228. The Constitution and the 
Guerriere? Although we had 
been beaten on land, we were 
wonderfully victorious at sea. 
England had been in the habit 
of treating America as though 
she owned the ocean from shore 
to shore. She had a magnificent 
navy of a thousand war ships. 
We had about a dozen ! One of 
our twelve (§214) was the ConstitiUiou (44 guns), commanded by 
Captain Isaac Hull, a nephew of General William Hull (§227). No 
braver officer ever trod a ship's deck. While cruising off the coast 
of Nova Scotia, Captain Hull fell in with the British man-of-war 
GiLerriere (38 guns). The fight began (August 19, 1812). The 
CoiistittUion carried more guns and more men than the British 
ship, and in twenty minutes the Gicerriere surrendered, a shattered, 
helpless, sinking wreck. The London Times, forgetting what Paul 
Jones had done in the Revolution (§ 183), said, ''Never before 

1 General Hull's defense was that he surrendered in order to save the women and chil- 
dren of Detroit from the scalping knives of Brock's Indians. 

2 Guej-riere : the British had captured this vessel from the French ; hence her French 




Battle of the " Constitution " and 

THE " GuERRIERE" 



name, meanrnf 



llic warrior." 




Map of War of 1812 
203 



204 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [I812-I813 

in the history of the world did an EngHsh frigate haul down her 
colors to an American." But this was only the beginning of our 
successes at sea, for out of fifteen such battles we won twelve. 
Captain Hull brought his prisoners to Boston. The Constitzition, 
almost unhurt, and henceforth known as Old Ironsides} was hailed 
with ringing cheers. Hull and his brave officers were feasted in 
Faneuil Hall ; Congress voted him a gold medal and gave his 
men $50,000 in prize money. 

229. Progress of the War ; Commodore 0. H. Perry^s Victory. 
Later that year (18 12), the Americans attacked Oueenstown, 
Canada, and General Harrison (§225), commander of the Army 

of the West, tried in vain to drive the 
British out of Detroit. 

In the autumn (18 13), Commodore O. 
H. Perry gained a grand victory on Lake 
Erie. Perry had built five vessels from 
green timber cut on the shore of the lake. 
He added four more vessels, and with 
that little fleet captured the British fleet 
cariying more guns and more men. Be- 
fore the fight began he hoisted a flag over his vessel — the Lazu- 
rence — bearing the words, ''Don't give up the ship."^ During 
the battle the Lawrence was literally cut to pieces, and her decks 
covered with dead and dying men. Perry saw that if he persisted 
in staying where he was, he must be defeated. Taking his little 
brother, a boy of twelve, with him, he jumped into a boat, and 
ordered the crew to pull for the Niagara. It was a perilous under- 
taking. The British shot broke the oars to pieces, and young 
Perry's cap was torn with bullets ; but the boat reached the Niag- 
ara, and Perry gained the battle. Then, on the back of an old 
letter, he wrote this dispatch to General Harrison, 

'' We have met the ejtemy, and they ai-e ours'' 

1 See Holmes' poem on Old Ironsides, written when it was proposed to break up the 
old ship. She has been repaired and lies near the Charlestown navy yard. 

2 These were the last words of Captain James Lawrence (June i, 1813), when he fell 
mortally wounded in a battle between his ship, the Chesapeake, and the English ship-of-war 
Shannon. Perry had given Lawrence's name to his ship. 




1814] BURNING OF WASHINGTON 205 

That victory gave us control of Lake Erie, and the British 
abandoned Detroit (§ 227). 

230. Jackson's Victory at Tohopeka. The next spring (18 14) 
General Andrew Jackson, who was destined to be President of the 
United States, marched against the Creeks, a strong Indian tribe 
in the southwest territory, now forming the states of Alabama and 
Mississippi. The Creeks had recently massacred five hundred men, 
women, and children at Fort Mimms, near Mobile. Jackson met the 
Indians in batde at Tohopeka, on a branch of the Alabama River. 
(Map, p. 203.) He completely destroyed their power, and they sur- 
rendered the greater part of their territory to the United States. 

231. Battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane ; Burning of Wash- 
ington. In the summer of the same year (18 14) General Brown, 
with General Winfield Scott and General Ripley, gained the battle 
of Chippewa, in Canada. Later, they drove the British from a hard- 
fought field at Lundy's Lane near Niagara Falls. (Map, p. 203.) 

Meanwhile, the British had blockaded all our ports along the 
Atlantic coast, and had plundered and burned a number of towns. 
Later in the summer (18 14) they entered Washington. (Map, 
p. 203.) President Madison fled in one direction ; Mrs. Madison, 
filling her workbag with silver spoons, fled in another. The Presi- 
dent's dinner, which had just been served, was captured and eaten 
by the enemy. After dinner. Admiral Cockburn, the English com- 
mander, and his officers, paid a visit to the House of Representa- 
tives. Springing into the Speaker's chair, he cried out, '' Shall 
this harbor of Yankee democracy be burned .? " There was a 
general shout of '' Aye ! " " Aye ! " 

The torch was applied, and soon the evening sky was red 
with the glare of the flames, which consumed the Capitol, the 
President's house, and other public buildings. A recent Eng- 
lish historian 1 says of that deed, ''Few more shameful acts are 
recorded in our history ; and it was the more shameful in that it 
was done under strict orders from the government at home." '^ 

1 J. R. Green's " History of the English People." 

"^ But we had burned (1813) the Canadian government buildings at York (now Toronto), 
then the capital of Canada. The truth is, that both sides perpetrated many acts which time 
should make both forgive and forget. 



2o6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1814 



232. Macdonough's Victory on Lake Champlain; British At- 
tack on Fort McHenry. A few weeks after the burning of Wash- 
ington a British expedition 14,000 strong moved down from 
Canada by way of Lake Champlain to attack northern New York. 
Commodore Macdonough had command of a small American fleet 
on the lake, A British fleet carrying more guns and more men 
attacked him (18 14) in Plattsburg Bay. (Map, p. 203.) At the 
first broadside fired by the enemy, a young gamecock kept as a pet 
on board Macdonough's ship, the Saratoga, flew up upon a gun ; 

flapping his wings, he gave a 
crow of defiance that rang like 
the blast of a trumpet. Swing- 
ing their hats, Macdonough's 
men cheered the plucky bird 
again and again. He had fore- 
told victory. That was enough. 
They went into the fight with 
such ardor, and managed their 
vessels with such skill, that in 
less than three hours all of the 
British ships that had not hauled 
down their flags were scudding 
to a place of safety as rapidly 
as possible. 

The next British attack was 
Macdonough's Victory ^^ Baltimore, by the same force 

and fleet that had taken Washington (§ 231). That city was 
guarded by Fort McHenry. All day and all the following night 
(September 13, 18 14) the enemy's ships hammered away with 
shot and shell at the fort.^ As the anxious hours of darkness 
slowly passed, the people of Baltimore asked each other, '' Can 
we possibly hold the fort.?" When the sun rose the next morning 
the question was answered — ''our flag was still there"; the British 




1 It was on this occasion that Francis S. Key, of Baltimore, wrote the " Star-Spangled 
Banner." Key was a prisoner at the time on board of one of the British men-of-war. All 
night long he watched the bombardment of the fort. By the flash of the guns he could see 



1815] 



JACKSON'S VICTORY AT NEW ORLEANS 



207 



had given up the attack, and were saiUng down Chesapeake Bay. 
Baltimore was safe, and soon every one was joyously singing the 
new song, the '' Star-Spangled Banner." 

233. Jackson^s Victory at New Orleans; the Hartford Conven- 
tion ; End of the War. Early the next year came the final battle 
of the war. The contest had now lasted over two years. The 
British determined to strike a tremendous blow at New Orleans. 
If successful it might give them a foothold on the Mississippi 
River. Sir Edward Pakenham with 10,000 picked men made the 
attack (January 8, 181 5). General Andrew Jackson defended the 
approach to the city with fortifications made of banks of earth and 
logs. He had only half 
as many men as the 
British commander, 
and they were men, 
too, who knew prac- 
tically nothing about 
war, but many of them 
were sharpshooters. 

In less than half an 
hour after the fight 
began Pakenham was 
killed, and the enemy 
had lost over 2000 
men to our 7 1 . Then 
the British gave up 

the battle. It was the end of the war. Great Britain had already 
made peace with our commissioners at Ghent, in Belgium (De- 
cember 24, 1 8 14); but the news did not reach us until several 
weeks after Jackson's victory. The treaty said nothing about the 
British claim of the right to search American vessels (§ 226) ; 
there was hardly need to mention it, for our ships were no 
longer molested. 

our flag waving over it. In the morning, when the mist cleared away, he found it was " still 
there." His feelings of delight found expression in the song, which he hastily wrote in 
pencil on the back of an old letter. 




Battle of New Orleans 



2o8 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1815- 

While the news of the treaty of peace was on its way, delegates 
from most of the New England States met in Hartford, Connect- 
icut, in secret session. They were men who had bitterly opposed 
the war from the beginning. It was reported that the convention 
was plotting to dissolve the Union ; but the delegates declared 
that they met to secure defense for the New England States, and 
to propose certain amendments to the Constitution. 

234. Results of the War. The war was rightfully called our 
" Second War of Independence." It had four chief results : 

1 . The Revolution had made us independent on land, the War 
of 1812 made us independent at sea. Henceforth Great Britain 
respected our rights on the ocean and no longer tried to ''fence 
in the Atlantic." 

2. The war showed foreign nations that any attempt to estab- 
lish themselves on the territory of the United States (§233) was 
likely to end in disastrous failure. 

3. By cutting off our foreign commerce for a number of years 
the war caused us to build many cotton and woolen mills (§205). 
This made us in far greater degree than before a manufacturing 
people, — able to clothe ourselves, instead of having to depend 
on the looms of Great Britain for our "prints" and our broad- 
cloths. 

4. Congress enacted a protective tariff, with high duties (18 16), 
to safeguard these mills and other American industries against 
foreign competition (§ 266). 

235. Summary. Madison's administration was mainly taken up 
with the second war with Great Britain, which began in 1 8 1 2 and 
ended early in 1 8 1 5 . We declared war because England refused 
to stop taking our sailors out of our ships and forcing them into 
her service. The war put an end to this practice. That was nearly 
a hundred years ago. Since then England and America have 
always been at peace with each other. May that peace never 
again be broken ! 



1817] 



MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION 



209 



James Monroe (Democrat) 

236. Monroe^s Administration (Fifth President; Two Terms, 
1817-1825); Monroe a Soldier of the Revolution; his Inaugura- 
tion. Monroe,! like Washington, got the best part of his educa- 
tion on the battlefield. When the Revolution broke out he was 
a student in the College of William and Mary, Virginia. He 
threw down his books and went to do his part in the cause of 
liberty. Among the gallant officers who helped to gain the victory 
of Trenton (§ 174) James Monroe, then only eighteen, was one. 

Mr. Monroe stood 
near the ruins of the 
Capitol at Washing- 
ton when he deliv- 
ered his inaugural 
address. The Brit- 
ish had burned 
(§231) that edifice, 
but the foundations 
remained unharmed. 
Workmen were then 
rebuilding it. The 
President's address 
was full of encour- 
agement. It seemed 
to him that the solid foundations of the Capitol stood an image 
of the nation, and that, like them, the government was sure to 
continue to exist. 

237. The President's Journey through the North; the ** Era 
of Good Feeling.'' Mr. Monroe spent the summer (18 17) in 
traveling through New England and the northern states. New 
England had been bitterly opposed to the War of 18 12, because 
the stoppage of commerce had ruined many of her merchants 

1 James Monroe of Westmoreland County, Virginia (born 1758 ; died i83i),was elected 
President by the Republican, or Democratic, party (see § 203) by a very large majority over 
the Federalist candidate. Daniel D. Tompkins of New York was chosen Vice President 
On Monroe's second election, see § 237. 




Monroe's Inauguration 



2IO LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [I817-I8I8 



and shipbuilders. The President's journey in this part of the 
country did great good. He went as a peacemaker. All knew 
that he had fought under Washington ; all respected the man's 
unblemished character and honest purpose. When the people 
saw him dressed in the military costume of the Revolution, the 
sight recalled the old days that had '" tried men's souls." 

In Boston and other cities the citizens brought out the shot- 
torn and smoke-stained battle flags of 1776 to decorate the streets. 
Gray-haired men, scarred with wounds received at Bunker Hill, at 

Trenton, at Saratoga, gathered 
to welcome the new President. 
He spoke of the inestimable 
worth of the Union, of the need 
that the North and the South 
had, and always must have, of 
each other. Men listened, and 
forgot their political differences. 
Every one declared that the 
"Era of Good Feeling" had 
begun. When Mr. Monroe was 
chosen President for the second 
time (1821) the people showed 
their respect for him and their 
confidence in him by their elect- 
oral vote, which lacked but a 
single one of being unanimous. 1 
238. The First Seminole War ; Our Second Step in Expansion, 
the Purchase of Florida. Great Britain had ceded Florida back to 
Spain (§ 143), and Florida was now a constant source of trouble to 
the people of the South. Many Seminoles, or wandering Indians, 
had gone there from the country west of Georgia. These savages 
united with bands of runaway negroes. They frequently attacked 
the Georgia planters, burning houses, murdering families, and 

1 Out of 232 electoral votes cast by the twenty-four states then constituting the Union, 
Monroe received 231. The elector who cast the remaining vote (for John Quincy Adams) 
did it simply because he had vowed " that no later mortal should stand in Washington's 
shoes," — that is, receive, like Washington, every vote for the presidency. 




In the Florida Swamps 



1818-] THE WESTERN EXTENSION OF SLAVERY 211 

carrying off property. It was no easy matter to fight the Indians 
and negroes in the swamps and thickets of Florida. Finally, 
General Jackson (§ 230) was sent (18 18) to see what he could do. 
In three months he conquered the country, though it still belonged 
to Spain. Many years later (1835) we had a second war with the 
Seminoles (§ 271). 

The Spanish government found that these troubles were likely 
to break out again, and wisely decided to sell Florida to us. We 
obtained the entire territory, about 60,000 square miles (18 19), 
for $5,000,000. This was our second step in national expansion 
(§ 215). (Map, p. 332.) At the same time we gave up to Spain 
all claim to the country later known as Texas, which we at one 
time considered to be included in our Louisiana Purchase (§215). 
Spain, on the other hand, gave up her claim to the '' Oregon 
countiy " (§ 216), and so strengthened our title to it. 

239. The Question of the Western Extension of Slavery. The 
year in which we purchased Florida (18 19) the question came up, 
whether slavery should be permitted to establish itself west of the 
Mississippi, in the immense region then called Missouri Territory. 
(Map, p. 214.) By the Ordinance of 1787 (§ 195) Congress had 
shut out slavery from the Northwest Territory, which lay east of 
the Mississippi and northwest of the Ohio River (Map, p. i J 2) ; 
now Congress asked if it would not be best to shut it out also 
from the whole of Missouri Territory. 

Ex-President Jefferson (§221) was afraid that this discussion 
about the extension of slavery would lead to trouble between the 
North and the South. He said that it terrified him '" like a fire 
bell in the night." 

240. Change of Feeling in Regard to Slavery; Condition of 
Things at the North and at the South. The reason for his fear 
was that a great change had come over the country. Before the 
Revolution every colony held negroes in bondage. But in the 
North the slaves were chiefly house servants, and their number 
was never very large. In the South, however, the planters raised 
all of their cotton, rice, and tobacco by slave labor, and the num- 
ber of negroes was constantly increasing. At first few persons 



212 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1819- 

considered slavery an evil ; but after a time many able men in 
both sections of the country came to believe that it was a bad 
thing for both the whites and the blacks. 

In the North this feeling led to the passing of laws which 
gave the slaves their freedom. But at the South the planters 
did not see how they could free their negroes without ruining 
themselves. 

Later, the invention of the cotton gin (§ 205) made slave labor 
immensely profitable. For this reason the planters wished to keep 
up the system. At the same time a good many Northern men, 
who made money by manufacturing and dealing in cotton cloth, 
became interested in maintaining slavery (§ 205). 

241. How Slavery divided the Country in Regard to Trade 
with Europe. On the whole, the effect of the slave system was 
now to divide the nation, instead of uniting it. Many of the people 
of the two sections not only thought differently about the right 
and the wrong of holding the negro in bondage, but they no longer 
agreed about the tariff (§§ 200, 234). The South devoted all its 
strength to raising cotton, rice, and tobacco. It had scarcely any 
manufactures ; it had to buy all its clothing, shoes, and other goods. 
Europe could then make these articles much cheaper than they 
could be made in the United States. The South, therefore, natu- 
rally wished for free trade, in order that it might import its supplies 
from the other side of the Atlantic. 

The North, on the other hand, however, had gradually come to 
devote much of its labor and its money to making cloth, shoes, 
and other articles ; for this reason it was opposed to free trade. It 
wished to keep up a protective tariff (§ 234), which would tax 
foreign goods and so make people buy our own instead. 

242. Why the North opposed the Extension of Slavery West of 
the Mississippi; why the South demanded it. Now it happened 
that at that time (18 19) the number of free states and of slave 
states was equal, each section having eleven. A majority of the 
Northern people, believing slavery to be an evil, had therefore two 
chief reasons for opposing its establishment west of the Mississippi 
in Missouri Territory (§ 239). 



1819-1820] THE GREAT MISSOURI COMPROMISE, 1820 213 

1. They thought it would be a serious injury to that part of the 
country, and as great a mistake as for a farmer to take the thistles 
and weeds which grew on his old land and deliberately plant them 
on a field of freshly cleared soil. 

2. They objected to it because, if the new territory should be 
admitted as slave states, the South might thereby gain a majority 
of representatives in Congress. That section could then, by its 
votes, strengthen and extend slavery, and at the same time it 
might repeal the protective tariff (§ 241) and so permit the free 
importation of all kinds of manufactured goods. 

On the other hand, the South argued that its prosperity depended 
on the extension of slave labor, and on free trade with Europe ; 
their papers boldly declared : '' Slaveiy must have room." The 
people there saw that the North was rapidly outstripping them in 
growth of population. If, then, a part of Missouri Territory should 
enter the Union as a free state, the North would probably get 
control of Congress and of our foreign trade. 

243. The Great Missouri Compromise, 1820. Finally, a part of 
Missouri Territory was set apart under the name of the state of Mis- 
souri, and applied for admission as a slave state. (Map, p. 214.) The 
South urged the measure with all its might ; the North fought against 
it with equal determination. After nearly two years of angry debate 
Henry Clay^ of Kentucky succeeded in persuading Congress to 
make a compromise, — that is, a bargain in which each side agreed 
to give up something to the other in order to settle the dispute. 

The Compromise was this : 

1. The North agreed that Missouri should enter the Union as 
a slave state. 

2. The South agreed that in all future cases the states formed 
out of the remainder of Missouri Territory north of the parallel 

1 Henry Clay was bom in Virginia in 1777 ; died at Washington, 1852. He studied law, 
and in 1797 removed to Lexington, Kentucky. In 1799, when the people of Kentucky were 
about adopting a state constitution, Clay urged them (but without success) to abolish slavery. 
He entered Congress in 1806, and continued in public life from that time until his death. 
He was a man of remarkable personal influence, a " peacemaker " by temperament, and the 
greatest orator the Southwest ever possessed. Although ardently attached to his adopted 
state of Kentucky, yet he declared in 1850 that he owed his first allegiance to the Union, and 
a subordinate allegiance to his state. See Carl Schurz's admirable " Life of Henry Clay." 



214 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1820 



of 36 degrees and 30 minutes on the map should come in free. 
(Map, below.) 

3. Finally, the South agreed that it would no longer oppose the 
effort of the North for the admission of Maine, which would, of 
course, come in as a free state. 

This law was passed in 1820 under the name of the Mis- 
souri Compromise Act. Maine was admitted (1820) and Missouri 




Map illustrating the Missouri Compromise Act of 1820 

The Act did not mention the territory south of 36° 30', but the understanding was 
that it was to be opened to slavery. 

followed (1821). This kept the political balance even, for the 
North now had twelve free states and the South twelve slave 
states. 

Many people believed that the passage of the Missouri Com- 
promise Act 1 had setded the debate about the extension of slavery 
"forever." But facts proved that in this case "forever" meant 

1 John Randolph, a Virginia slaveholder, then in Congress, called the Northern men who 
voted for the Compromise " Doughfaces," because he thought they had no more character than 
a piece of dough. But John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, a thorough hater of slavery, 
who was then Secretary of State, and who had no more " dough " in his make-up than a block 
of New England granite, believed the Missouri Compromise was a wise measure and neces- 
sary to the preservation of the Union. 



1820-1825] 



THE "NATIONAL ROAD" 



215 



only about twenty-five years (§§ 285, 298, 299, 305) ; then,^ as 
we shall see, the question came up again, and in a more danger- 
ous form than before. 

244. Desire to reach the West; the ** National Road.'* Next 
to the extension of slavery, one of the greatest questions of this 
period was how to reach the West. To-day we find it difficult 
to understand this. To go West, we simply step into an express 
train, and steam whirls us to our destination at the rate of forty 
or fifty miles an hour. If mountains block the way, the train 
either climbs over them or goes through them. 

In President Monroe's time the railway did not exist, and 
although the steamboat did (§ 220), that could only go where 
some navigable river or lake opened the way. Look on the map 




<r- ■ ^ ^ / X '-1 



The Cumberland or National Road 



of the United States (Map, above), and you will see that the 
Allegheny Mountains shut out the East from the West. As the 
steamboat could not find a passage leading through those rough 
walls of rock. Congress resolved to build a wagon road over them. 
Such a road had already been begun ( 1 8 1 1 ) at the head of navi- 
gation on the Potomac, at Cumberland, Maryland. (Map, above.) 
This National Road was now (1825) gradually extended across 
the forest-covered mountains to Wheeling, on the Ohio River, 
where it connected with steamboats running to Cincinnati and 
to New Orleans. 

But that was not enough. There were millions of acres of 
fertile land in Ohio and the country beyond it, which emigrants 

1 That is, until the question of the annexation of Texas came up in 1845, followed by 
that of the Wilmot Proviso (1846-1848), by the Compromise of 1850, and by the Kansas- 
Nebraska Act of 1854. 



2l6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1826 



wished to reach more directly than the steamboat could help them 
to do. Henry Clay, the '' Father of the National Road" (§ 243), 
urged its extension from Wheeling across Ohio, Indiana, and Illi- 
nois through to the Mississippi. (Map, p. 215.) President Monroe 
earnestly favored this enterprise, but he did not think that he had 
lawful power under the Constitution to spend the people's money 
for such purposes. Indirectly, however, he used every effort to 
help it forward. The road was extended nearly to the Mississippi, 
but by that time people had begun to build railways (§§ 252-255), 

so the National Road 
never got any farther. 
It was the first great 
work of the kind un- 
dertaken by the United 
States, costing, in the 
end, over ^6,000,000. 
It stretched across the 
country for hundreds of 
miles, — broad, solid, 
smooth, — a true na- 
tional highway. 

245. Traffic on the 
National Road; Emi- 
grant Wagons. The 
traffic over the road was immense. Gayly painted stagecoaches 
ran through the more thickly settled parts. Beyond, toward the 
west, there was a constant stream of huge canvas-covered emigrant 
wagons, often so close together that the leaders of the teams could 
touch the wagon ahead of them with their noses. To see that pro- 
cession of emigrant families going forward day after day showed 
how fast the people were settling that wild western country, which 
is now covered with cultivated farms, thriving towns, and busy cities. 
It was the beginning of that great. march toward the setting 
sun which was to keep steadily advancing until the Pacific said 
** Halt! " — that is, until we had taken possession of the whole 
breadth of the continent. 




EMlGRANlb GOING WiibT OVER THE 

National Road 



1823] THE "MONROE DOCTRINE" 217 

246. The ** Monroe Doctrine ''; ** America for Americans.** 

While the National Road (§ 244) was being pushed westward, 
Mexico and several South American countries had declared them- 
selves republics, independent of Spain. The Czar of Russia and 
most of the European kings looked with a jealous eye on republics. 
The Czar then held Russian America (now Alaska) and was en- 
deavoring to get possession of more territory, farther south, on 
the Pacific coast. He, with other European rulers, formed an 
alliance to force the new American nations to bow their heads 
again under the old despotic yoke of Spain from which they had 
just freed themselves. President Monroe cried, " Hands off ! " In 
his message to Congress (1823) he declared : 

1. That the United States would deny the right of any Euro- 
pean power to plant any new colonies on the American continent. 

2. That we were resolved not to meddle with the affairs of the 
nations of the Old World. 

3. That we were equally determined that they should not in 
any way meddle with the affairs of the New World. 

That declaration is called the '' Monroe Doctrine." ^ It means 
that we consider that "America is for Americans." We stand 
by the right of the different nations on both the American con- 
tinents. North and South, to manage their own affairs in their 
own way, without interference from Europe. 

247. Visit of Lafayette. Near the close of Monroe's admin- 
istration Congress requested the President to invite Lafayette 

1 The "Monroe Doctrine" : in his message to Congress on December 2, 1823, President 
Monroe said, speaking of the project of Russia to plant one or more Russian colonies on 
the coast of what was then .the Mexican state of California, " The occasion has been judged 
proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are 
involved, i/iai the American continents^ by the free and inc{epende7it position -which they have 
assumed and maintain^ are hencefo7-th not to be considered as subjects for future colonization 
by any Europea7i powers P 

Again, President Monroe said, in the same message, in speaking of the proposed interfer- 
ence of European governments in America, " We should consider any attempt oii their part to 
extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety P 

Finally, the President said that we could not consider any interference by Europe with 
the independent republics which had been established on either of the American continents 
" m any other light than as the manifestation of an ttnfriendly disposition toward the United 
Siates." See W. Macdonald's "Select Documents of United States History, 1776-1861," 
p. 228. 



2i8 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1825 



(§ 176), then a venerable man verging on seventy, to revisit the 
United States after forty years' absence. He came (1824), and 
spent more than a year traveUng through the country as the guest 
of the nation. He visited every one of the twenty-four states, and 
all of the principal cities and towns. 

He had spent much of his fortune in our cause. Congress 
gratefully voted him two hundred thousand dollars, and made him 
a grant of twenty-four thousand acres of land in Florida. He was 
everywhere received with enthusiasm and affection. Some of the 

old soldiers of the Revolu- 



tion, who had fought under 
him, were completely over- 
come by their feelings on 
seeing their former com- 
mander, who had so gen- 
erously helped them in the 
dark days of the war. Lafay- 
ette took part in laying 
the corner stone of Bunker 
Hill Monument (June 17, 
1825), just fifty years after 
the battle.^ When he re- 
turned to France that au- 
tumn he was followed by 
the fervent prayers of the 
powerful nation he had done 
so much to establish. 




Webster and Lafayette at Bunker 
Hill, June 17, 1825 



That happened more than eighty years ago, but there is good 
proof that the American people have not forgotten, and never 
will forget, the noble-hearted Frenchman. 

1 In his oration at the laying of the corner stone of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1825, 
Daniel Webster pointed to the Revolutionary veterans who stood near him and addressed 
Lafayette as follows : " Those who survived that day, and whose lives have been prolonged 
to the present hour, are now around you. Some of them you have known in the trying 
scenes of the war. . . . Behold ! they raise their trembling voices to invoke the blessing 
of God on you and yours forever. . . . Illustrious as are your merits, yet far, O, very far 
distant be the day, when any inscription shall bear your name, or any tongue pronounce 
its eulogy." 



1825-1829] J. Q. ADAMS' ADMINISTRATION 219 

In the very center of Paris, in the grounds of the palace of 
the Louvre, one sees a commanding equestrian statue (1900). 
On the base of that statue we read this inscription : 



ERECTED BY THE SCHOOL CHILDREN OF THE 
UNITED STATES, IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF 
LAFAYETTE, STATESMAN, SOLDIER, PATRIOT 



248. Summary. Four chief events marked the period of the 
presidency of James Monroe. They were : (i) the debate on the 
extension of slavery west of the Mississippi River, ending in 
the Missouri Compromise ; (2) the pushing forward of the Na- 
tional Road into Ohio, which opened up a large section of the 
West to emigrants from the Atlantic states ; (3) our declaration 
of the Monroe Doctrine, that Europe must keep her hands off 
both American continents ; (4) the visit of Lafayette. 

John Quincy Adams (Independent Democrat) 

249. John Quincy Adams^ Administration (Sixth President, 
One Term, 1825-1829);^ Governor Clinton and the Erie Canal. 

The year that Mr. Adams became President (1825) the Erie 
Canal was completed by the state of New York. It was the most 
important public improvement yet made by any state in the Union. 

1 John Quincy Adams, son of President John Adams, was born in Braintree (now 
Quincy), Massachusetts, in 1767; died, 184S. He was originally a Federalist (§203); later, 
he acted for a time with the Democratic-Republican party (§203), though his sympathies 
were largely with those who eventually organized the Whig party (§273), who, like the 
extinct Federalists, desired to give a broad interpretation to the Constitution (§203). The 
Whigs, led by Henry Clay, favored a protective tariff (that is, a heavy tax imposed on im- 
ported goods for the purpose of " protecting " our manufacturers againsrt foreign competition ; 
a revenue tariff is a lighter tax imposed merely to obtain money or revenue for the govern- 
ment). They also favored public improvements — such as the building of roads, canals, and 
the like — at the expense of the nation, in opposition to the Democratic party, which insisted 
on a strict interpretation of the Constitution, favored free trade, or a simple revenue tariff, 
and believed that each state should make its own improvements at its own expense. 

John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson were the two leading candidates for the presi- 
dency in 1824 ; both were nominally Democrats, for that was the only party then existing, but 
Adams, as an independent Democrat, still held certain Federalist principles, while Jackson, 



220 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1825 



It connected the Hudson River at Troy and Albany with Lake 
Erie, at Buffalo. 

Governor De Witt Clinton of New York carried the great work 
through. When he proposed it, many denounced and ridiculed 
the undertaking as a sheer waste of the people's hard-earned 
money. They nicknamed it " Clinton's Big Ditch." They said 







-v/- 



Henry Clay 



that it never would be completed, that it would swallow up millions 
in taxes, and in the end yield nothing but mud. 

250. How the Canal was built ; its Opening. Governor Clinton 
had indeed put his hand to a stupendous task. Lake Erie is 363 
miles west of the Hudson, and it is nearly 600 feet above the 
level of that river. The country between the Hudson and the lake 
is in some places rough and broken. There were people in New 
York who knew these difhculties, and who asked the Governor 
whether he could make water run uphill. He replied that he 

as a man of the people, bitterly opposed them. Neither candidate got a majority of 
the electoral votes, and the House of Representatives finally chose Mr. Adams President 
(John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, Vice President). Mr. Adams had refused to make 
any exertion to secure his own election ; and when asked by his friend Edward Everett 
if he did not intend to do something to obtain it, he replied, " I shall do absolutely noth- 
ing." It was one of those rare cases in which the office sought the man, and not the man 
the office. 



1825-] THE ERIE CANAL 221 

could do better : he could build locks which would make the water 
lift the canal boats over the hills. 

When all was ready he set his army of laborers at work. They 
toiled eight years in the wilderness, cutting down forests, digging 
out the earth, blasting their way through ridges of rock, building 
aqueduct bridges to carry the canal across rivers, constructing 
locks of solid masonry to carry it up the hillsides. 

In the autumn of 1825 the great undertaking was finished, and, 
when the water was let in, a row of cannon about five miles apart, 
extending from Buffalo to New York, flashed the news the whole 
length of the state. Governor Clinton traveled from Buffalo to 
Albany by the canal, and thence by the Hudson to New York 
City. He brought with him a keg of water from Lake Erie. 
When he reached the city he solemnly poured the water into 
the harbor to commemorate, as he said, "the navigable com- 
munication opened between our Mediterranean seas (meaning our 
Great Lakes) and the Atlantic Ocean." 

251. What the Canal has done for New York and for the 
Country. The canal has since done far more than Governor 
Clinton expected. The expense of building it was easily paid by 
means of a small toll or tax levied by the state on boats and 
freight. Before the canal was built, the charge for hauling a 
barrel of flour from Albany to Buffalo was ten dollars, and it 
took three weeks to get it there. After the canal was opened, 
a barrel of flour could be sent through in a week, at a cost 
of thirty cents ! Since its completion to the present time over 
$6,000,000,000 worth of freight has been carried on its waters. 

The canal originally ran through a country in great part un- 
settled. It was the means of bringing in great numbers of emi- 
grants from the East. On its banks arose scores of flourishing 
towns and rapidly growing cities. New York City gained im- 
mensely by the trade with the West, which began as soon as this 
water way was opened. Later, the canal was made free of toll, 
and from spring to the end of autumn a constant procession of 
boats laden with gi'ain used to be seen going eastward day and 
night; while a similar procession, laden with merchandise, was 



222 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1828 



seen going westward. This movement was a means of growth 
and a source of wealth to both sections of the country. On the 
one hand it made food cheaper all through the East; on the 
other, it made imported goods cheaper throughout the West. . 

In order to make the Erie Canal a successful competitor against 
the railway, which runs parallel with it from Albany to Buffalo, 
the. state of New York has spent more than ^130,000,000 in 
enlarging it. Now fleets of steam barges, each carrying a thou- 
sand tons, or more, of freight are 
navigating this great inland water 
way, many hundred miles long. 

252. Experiments with ** Steam 
Wagons." A few years later a work 
was begun in Maryland which was 
destined to have greater results even 
than the Erie Canal. Fulton had 
shown the world that the steam en- 
gine could be successfully used to 
propel boats (§ 220) ; the next ques- 
tion was. Is there any reason why 
the steam engine cannot be put on 
wheels, and made to propel itself on 
land ? After many experiments and 
many failures, George Stephenson invented a '' steam wagon," or 
locomotive, in England, which would draw a train of loaded cars 
on a track at the rate of ten or fifteen miles an hour. Meanwhile, 
Oliver Evans and other ingenious American mechanics had been 
experimenting with '' steam wagons " in this country. 

253. Breaking Ground for the First Passenger Railway in 
America. A few years after the completion of the Erie Canal 
(§251) the venerable Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland, 
performed the ceremony of breaking ground for the construc- 
tion of a railway from Baltimore westward (1828). The road 
now forms part of the Baltimore and Ohio railway system. Mr. 
Carroll, then over ninety years of age, was the only person liv- 
ing who had signed the Declaration of American Independence 




Locks at Lockport on the 
Erie Canal 



1830-1831] THE FIRST AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE 



223 



(1776). As he struck the spade into the ground with a firm 
hand, he said, '' I consider this among the most important acts 
of my Hfe, second only to that of signing the Declaration of 
Independence, if second even to that." 

254. The First American Locomotive, 1830; the Railway 
opened; the Race. The first locomotive which ran over the new 
railway in 1830 was built at Baltimore by Peter Cooper, since 
widely known for his noble gift of the Cooper Institute to New 
York City. His engine had little resemblance to our modern ones, 
but it drew a rudely constructed open car filled with passengers. 
The road at first extended only to Ellicott's Mills, about fourteen 
miles from Baltimore. The trip was made in somewhat less than 
an hour. On the return, the train had a race with a spirited 




Steam wins the Race 



gray horse hitched to a similar car. The gray did his best ; the 
puffing, wheezing little locomotive did its best likewise. Finally, 
steam conquered ; and a great shout of victory went up from the 
dozen passengers in the car drawn by Peter Cooper's diminu- 
tive engine. That shout meant that the days of stagecoaches were 
numbered. 

255. Growth of Railways in the United States; Results. The 
same year six miles of the Charleston and Augusta Railway were 
opened; a year later (1831) the Mohawk and Hudson Railway 
began to carry passengers in New York. In ten years the fourteen 
miles of track in Maryland had multiplied to nearly 3000 miles 
in different states. These have since increased to over 260,000 
miles, or more than eighty-fold. They form a network of trans- 
portation which crosses the continent (§ 370). That network binds 



224 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1825-1829 

the nation together with bands of steel. It makes every part of our 
country quickly, cheaply, and easily accessible to every other part. 
The men of Jefferson's time who lived to see what the railway 
accomplished, no longer doubted whether the United States could 
safely extend beyond the Alleghenies (§213). Steam convinced 




First Steam Train (1831) on the Mohawk and Hudson Railway, 

New York 

them that the republic was destined not only to hold the East, but 
to get possession of the whole of the great West. 

256. The Temperance Cause ; Drinking Habits in Early Days. 
Side by side with this wonderful material advance, the country was 
now beginning to make progress in moral reforms, especially with 
respect to temperance. One of the great evils of the times was 
drunkenness. In the early days of our history the use of liquor 
was almost universal. A majority of the people drank it every 
day, and some of them drank it pretty nearly all day. 

No well-to-do farmer thought he could get in his hay without a 
good-sized jug of whisky to refresh himself and his men ; no 
house or church was built without plenty of spirits to help get the 
timbers into place ; no bargain was clinched without the aid of 
liquor ; and no gentleman called on another without being asked 
to take a social glass. 

257. The First Successful Temperance Society ; what has been 
done since. The '' American Society for the Promotion of Tem- 
perance " was formed in Boston (1826), and a number of years 
later (1840) six men, who knew the evils of the vice of intemper- 
ance from their own sad personal experience, met in Baltimore, 
signed a total abstinence pledge, and founded the '' Washingtonian 
Temperance Society." That movement did immense good, and 



1825-1829] SUMMARY 225 

restored many drunkards to the manhood they had lost through 
drink. 1 A httle more than ten years later (185 i) Neal Dow per- 
suaded the state of Maine to enact the first prohibition law. It 
forbade the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors as bever- 
ages ; but the law never met with more than partial success. 

Since that time several other states tried prohibition for longer 
or shorter periods. North Dakota, Kansas, Georgia, Alabama, 
and Oklahoma enacted prohibitory measures. In July, 19 17, full 
prohibition was in force in nineteen states and in the District 
of Columbia. Five more states, making twenty-four in all, had 
adopted it and had named a date, not far off, when it would 
become effective. 

All the other states in the Union, except three, enacted laws 
which gave the voters of cities and towns power to forbid the 
sale of liquor, or of any other intoxicating beverages, within their 
limits. This power was used in so many cases that more than 
half the area of the United States (though not the most densely 
populated part) came under some kind of prohibition. The young- 
man beginning life found that all the best influences were opposed 
to intemperance, — once (§ 256) a majority of influences seemed 
to encourage it. 

After we entered the Great War (§445) the manufacture and 
sale of all " intoxicating liquors " as beverages were absolutely pro- 
hibited throughout the country by the Eighteenth Amendment to 
the Constitution of the United States (Appendix, p. xxiv). The law 
was hotly contested, but it went into effect on January 16, 1920. 

258. Summary. The presidency of John Quincy Adams was 
marked by three important events : (i) the completion of the Erie 
Canal ; (2) the building of the first passenger railway in the United 
States ; (3) the first successful attempt at temperance reform. 

1 The first temperance societies did not insist on total abstinence from all alcoholic 
drinks, but only from the use of distilled spirits, such as whisky, brandy, and the like. 
Later they required — like the Washingtonians — a pledge of " /f/^/ abstinence from all 
that can intoxicate " ; but they still retained the name of temperance societies, though 
strictly speaking they had become total abstinence societies. 



VII 

"Our Federal Union: it must be preserved:' — President Jackson's 
toast at Jefferson's birthday banquet in Waslmigton, April jo, 1830. 

THE NEW DEMOCRACY 

Andrew Jackson (Democrat) ^ 

259. Jackson's Administration (Seventh President, Two Terms, 
1 829-1 837) ; Character of the New President. Up to this date all 
the Presidents had been chosen from Virginia or from Massachu- 
setts, and all were known to the country as statesmen of a high order. 
General Jackson,^ '' the People's President," came from Tennessee. 
He had unbounded popularity in all western communities. His 
military services, and especially his victory over the British at 
New Orleans (§ 233), had made him famous throughout the 
United States. 

1 Reference Books (Jackson to Buchanan, inclusive). W, Wilson's " Division 
and Reunion," ch. 1-8; W, C. Bryant and Gay's "United States" (revised edi- 
tion), IV, 291-434; W. Macdonald's "Jacksonian Democracy"; A. B. Hart's 
" Slavery and Abolition " ; G. P. Garrison's "Westward Extension "; T. C. Clarke's 
" Parties and Slavery"; F. E. Chadwick's "Causes of the Civil War," ch. 1-17 ; 
J. B. McMaster's " United States," V, 523-556, VI ; A. B. Hart's " American 
History by Contemporaries," III, ch. 24-29; IV, ch. 2-7; A. B. Hart's "Source 
Book, ch. 15-17 ; J. Schouler's " United States," III, ch. 13; IV, V. See also the 
classified List of Books in the Appendix. 

2 Andrew Jackson was of Scotch-Irish descent (§ 92) , He was born in 1 767, in the Waxhaw 
Settlement, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, close to the South Carolina boundary line. 
In his will and elsewhere he speaks of himself as a native of the latter state. He died in 
1845. He got his early education rather from the hard, rough, dangerous life of the back- 
woods than from books and schools. No one could excel him in handling a rifle, or in break- 
ing and riding a wild or vicious horse. 

During the Revolution, Jackson, then a lad of fourteen, was taken prisoner by the British, 
and was nearly starved to death by them. Once the commanding officer ordered him to 
clean his boots. Young Jackson refused, saying that he was a prisoner of war, and therefore 
not obliged to perform such acts of drudgery for his captors. The officer, in a rage, struck 
him with his sword, cutting a gash on the boy's head and another on his hand. Jackson 
carried the scars of this brutal treatment to his grave. 

In 1784 he began the study of law in Salisbury, North Carolina. Four years later he 
emigrated to Nashville, Tennessee, where he opened a law office. In 1797 he was elected 

226 



1829] 



JACKSON'S "POLITICAL REVOLUTION" 



227 



In character Jackson was headstrong, absolutely honest, and 
utterly fearless. When he was roused, there was a flash in his 
gray eyes that startled one like the gleam of a drawn sword. His 
blunt speech and decided action made many bitter enemies, but 
he had also many devoted friends. They knew him to be a warm- 
hearted, true-hearted, high-minded man. 

260. President Jackson's ** Political Revolution/* The new 
President began his administration with what his Secretary of 
the Treasury called ''a great political revolution." The Presi- 
dent's friends demanded government offices. In a short time he 
turned out about 2000 men Jrom their posi- 
tions, and gave their places and salaries to 
those who had voted for him. 

Jackson believed the change would be an 
advantage to the country ; but such removals 
by wholesale had never been made before. 
During the forty years which had passed 
since the adoption of the Constitution, the 
six Presidents who had governed the coun- 
try had dismissed, at the most, only about 
140 persons holding office, and of this small 
number five were removed because they had stolen public money. 

261. Jefferson's Removal of Government Officers; the "Spoils 
System.*' Jefferson had removed more persons than any previous 
President (§ 212). His object was to give each political party an 
equal share of offices. When he had made that division he said that 
he should ask only three questions respecting an applicant : "Is 

United States senator, but soon resigned the office, " partly," says Parton, " because he felt 
himself out of place in so slow and dignified a body, but chiefly for pecuniary reasons." He 
was again elected in 1823. 

During the War of 1812 Jackson was appointed a general in the regular army, and served 
the country with distinguished ability. When he fought the British, they found, to their 
cost, that he had not forgotten how they used him in the Revolution. He also gained great 
popularity with his men in his battles with the Indians, and his wonderful endurance of 
hardships got for him the affectionate nickname of " Old Hickory." 

In 1828 General Jackson (with John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, for Vice President) 
was elected President of the United States by the Democratic party, by a large majority 
over John Quincy Adams, who had then become the National Republican or Whig candi- 
date. In 1832 he was again elected (Martin Van Buren of New York, Vice President) over 
Henry Clay, the Whig candidate. 




Andrex. J. 



228 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1829-1831 

he honest ? Is he capable ? Is he faithful to the Constitution ? " 
If the answer was ''Yes," that was enough. 

When Jackson became President he began, as we have seen, 
by making sweeping dismissals of the men who did not agree 
with him in politics. He filled their places with those — and those 
only — who voted as he thought right. In doing this he intended, 
as he said, to effect a great '' reform " ; but his action established 
the '' spoils system," ^ which Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, and 
other eminent statesmen denounced. 

262. William Lloyd Garrison; Dr. Channing; the Anti-Slavery 
Movement. The question about filling government offices was 
pushed out of sight by the greater question about slavery. On 
New Year's Day, 1831, William Lloyd Garrison, then a "poor, 
unlearned young man," ^ published in Boston the first number 
of his paper called the Liberator. Mr. Garrison was its editor, 
owner, publisher, printer, and carrier. The Liberator demanded 
the " immediate and unconditional emancipation of every slave 
held in the United States." Mr. Garrison was resolved to free 
the negro, even if he had to destroy the Union to do it.^ 

The Southern planters believed the editor of the new paper 
had lost his reason ; most people at the North agreed with them.^ 
Even many warm friends of the negro thought Mr. Garrison was 
wholly wrong in his methods. They felt as Dr. Channing did. 

1 " Spoils System " : so called because, in 1832, Senator Marcy of New York declared that 
" to the victors belong the spoils " ; or, in other words, that the successful political party in 
an election has the right to make all it can out of it in the way of offices and salaries. 

2 See James Russell Lowell's poem " To W, L. Garrison," beginning 

" In a small chamber, friendless and unseen, 
Toiled o'er his types one poor, unlearned young man." 

3 After laboring many years in the cause of emancipation, Mr. Garrison finally came to 
the conclusion that the Constitution of the United States upheld slavery, and that the dis- 
solution of the Union, by depriving the South of the support of the North, would hasten 
the liberation of the slaves. In consequence of this conviction, he violently denounced the 
Constitution (in words taken from Isaiah xxviii. 15) as "a covenant with death and an agree- 
ment with hell." These words were then regularly printed at the top of the Liberator until 
the outbreak of the Civil War, when they were dropped. 

4 Mr. Garrison said that he found the prejudice and contempt of Northern men harder 
to deal with than that of the slaveholders. In an address to the public in the first number 
of the Liberator he used these words : " I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will 
not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — and / will be heard.^'' See Life of W. L. 
Garrison, by his children. 



1831] INSURRECTION OF SLAVES 229 

That eminent man wrote to Daniel Webster, declaring that we 
should say to the South, " We consider slavery as your calamity, 
not your crime ; and we will share with you the burden of putting 
an end to it." ^ 

263. Insurrection of Slaves in Virginia; Mr. Garrison mobbed 
in Boston. It so happened that in the summer following the 
publication of the Liberator, a terrible negro insurrection broke 
out in Virginia. The slaves engaged in it massacred over sixty 
white men, women, and children. Many Southern people believed 
that Mr. Garrison's object was to stir up the negroes to rise and 
murder their masters. There was no truth in the belief, but it 
powerfully increased the excitement at the South. 

In the North, Mr. Garrison's appeals in behalf of the freedom 
of the blacks roused almost equal excitement. Gangs of ''roughs" 
broke up meetings held to discuss emancipation, and on one occa- 
sion a howling mob dragged the editor of the Liberator through 
the streets of Boston with a rope round his body. 

These violent outbreaks were not made out of hatred to the 
negro, but out of fear that Mr. Garrison was putting the country 
in peril. Many thoughtful men who were opposed to slavery 
believed that, on the whole, it was better to save the Union with 
slavery than to deliberately destroy it for the sake of liberating 
the negro. Daniel Webster held that idea, and so, as we shall 
see later, did Abraham Lincoln (§319 and note to the Proclama- 
tion of Emancipation, facing page 303). 

264. Formation of Abolition Societies; Petitions to Congress 
about Slavery ; what John Quincy Adams did. Mr. Garrison be- 
lieved that he was right, and persisted in demanding the eman- 
cipation of the slaves. Union or no Union. His influence spread. 
In a few years nearly 2000 societies had been formed in the North 
for the abolition of slavery. Then many people began to petition 
Congress to set free all slaves held in the District of Columbia. 

■ 1 See Dr. W. E. Channing's letter to Daniel Webster (Webster's Works), May 14, 1828. 
Dr. Charming proposed that the United States should appropriate the money from the sale 
of the public lands, buy the slaves from their owners, and set them free. Could that have 
been done, it would have saved us four years of civil war. England bought her West India 
slaves, and freed them, in 1833, at a cost of one hundred million dollars. 



230 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1832 

Congress finally resolved not to receive such petitions. Ex- 
President John Ouincy Adams (§ 249), then a member of the 
House of Representatives, denounced these resolutions as "gag 
rules," which forbade debate and were contrary to the Constitu- 
tion. ^ He insisted on presenting every petition that was sent to 
him, and sometimes offered 200 or more in a single day, amid 
cries of ''Treason!" and yells of "Put him out!" From this 
period the discussion of slavery never ceased until the North 
and the South took up arms to settle it on the battle-field. 

265. President Jackson puts an End to the Second United 
States Bank; Removal of the Deposits. While the great question 
of emancipation was being hotly debated, Jackson was attacking 
the United States Bank (§ 202), which had been reestablished 
(18 16). He believed, as did Senator Benton of Missouri,^ that it 
was badly managed and unsafe. F"or these reasons he refused to 
sign a bilP (1832) to renew the right of the bank to continue 
business. This refusal put an end to the bank in 1836. 

Next (1833) the President removed nearly ^10,000,000 of the 
public money which the government had in the bank. This amount, 
with about ;^40,ooo,ooo more, was deposited later in some ninety 
so-called " pet banks " in different states. Speculators borrowed 
large sums of paper money from these banks, with others, to 
buy government land, and many people started wild schemes for 
" getting rich quick." Jackson checked this business by demanding 
specie^ for land, when specie was hard to find (§ 276, No. 3). 

266. South Carolina resists the Tariff taxing Imported Goods. 
The South was at this time strongly opposed to having heavy 
duties or taxes imposed on goods brought into the United States. 
We have seen (§ 241) that the reason for this opposition was 

1 On the right of the people to petition the government, see Amendments to the Consti- 
tution, Article I ; but compare the right of Congress to make rules for its proceedings 
(Constitution, Article I, Section 5). 

2 Colonel Thomas H. Benton was one of the most decided opponents of the bank. He 
thought paper money was unsafe, and urged Congress to adopt gold and silver currency 
instead of bank bills. His able speeches on this subject of "hard money" got for him the 
nickname of " Old Bullion." 

3 Bill : a law proposed by Congress ; except in certain cases, it requires the President's 
signature to make it complete. When he returns a bill unsigned he is said to veto it. See 
the Constitution, Article I, Section 7. ^ Specie (spe'she) : gold or silver money. 



1832] PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 231 

that the people of the South had never estabhshed manufactories 
in any number, and therefore had to buy their woolen and cotton 
cloth either from the northern states, where large quantities were 
made, or from Europe. As labor was cheaper in Europe than in 
this country, the wealthy mill owners in England could afford to 
make cloth, send it to the United States, and sell it at a much lower 
price than it could be made here. Henry Clay, a member of Con- 
gress from Kentucky (§ 243), was particularly anxious to make the 
American producers and manufacturers independent of Europe. 
He succeeded in establishing high protective tariffs (1824, 1828, 
1832). These tariffs levied a heavy duty or tax on many im- 
ported goods and so protected the American manufacturer of cot- 
ton, woolen, iron, and other goods against all foreign competitors.^ 
Finally, South Carolina resolved to resist these duties. 

267. John C. Calhoun; Nullification; Preparations for War. 
John C. Calhoun 2 of South Carolina, who was then Vice Presi- 
dent, protested against this '* Tariff of Abominations," as he called 
it. He asserted that it compelled the South to pay such a price 
for cloth and other goods that the people were constantly growing 
poorer, while the Northern manufacturers, on the other hand, were 
getting rich at their expense. He therefore demanded free trade. 
To this the North answered that free trade would ruin the factory 

1 From the outset a division of opinion existed in regard to the power of the government 
to levy duties. The Democrats generally contended that, strictly interpreted, the Constitu- 
tion did not give Congress authority to impose duties beyond what would be sufficient to 
defray the expenses of the government and furnish money for the payment of the national 
debt. This party demanded simply a Revenue Tariff. The Federalists and Whigs generally 
held that the Constitution gave Congress the right to levy duties not only for revenue but 
also to encourage the production of goods at home, as opposed to their purchase from 
foreign producers. These two parties (and later the Republican party) advocated a Pro- 
tective Tariff. Such a tariff was imposed in 1816, 1824, 1828, 1832, and 1842. In 1846, and 
until the beginning of the Civil War, we maintained what was practically a Revenue Tariff. 
During the war heavy duties became the rule. Later, they were considerably reduced, but in 
1890 and 1897 the Republicans enacted very high Protective Tariffs. 

2 John C. Calhoun, bom in Abbeville district, South Carolina, 1782; died 1850. Like 
Jackson, he was of Scotch-Irish descent (§ 92). He entered Congress in 18 10. He was elected 
Vice President in 1824 and in 1828. In 1832 he resigned his office, and was chosen United 
States senator. He was at first a supporter of a protective tariff, but later became a strong 
advocate of free trade. He was one of the few leading men who taught that slavery is "a 
positive good," an advantage alike to the negro and to his owner. His nature was " as great 
as it was pure." Webster, his chief political opponent, said of him that nothing " low or 
meanly selfish came near the head or the heart of Mr. Calhoun." 



232 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1830-1833 

owners and compel them to close their factories. Congress refused 
to abolish the protective tariff. • 

Calhoun told the people of South Carolina that the tariff law 
was contrary to the Constitution of the United States. He said 
that they ought to refuse to obey it (§ 210). They took his advice, 
and held a state convention at which they declared that (after 
February i, 1833) they would not pay duties on goods imported 
into Charleston from Europe. This refusal was called mdlificatioii. 
In Charleston preparations were made to resist the collection of 
the duty. Governor Hayne, of South Carolina, threatened that if 
the government used force, his state would secede from the Union 
and declare itself independent. 

268. Webster's Reply to Hayne and Calhoun ; what we owe 
to Webster. When, in the Capitol at Washington, Senator Hayne, 
of South Carolina (1830), boldly upheld the right of nullification 
(§ 267), Daniel Webster ^ replied to him, closing with the well- 
known words : " Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and 
inseparable." Later, when Calhoun in the United States Senate 
defended the right of secession, Webster made a powerful speech, 
in which he declared that '' there can be no secession without rev- 
olution." He saw that if a state is resolved to leave the Union, 
the national government, sword in hand, must insist that it shall 
remain in its place and obey the laws. 

We owe an immense debt to Webster's commanding eloquence 
on this subject. In the remarkable series of speeches which he 
delivered at this period (18 30-1 8 33), he made Americans realize 
the inestimable value and sacredness of the Union as they had 
never felt it before. Thirty years later when the Civil War threat- 
ened to destroy the nation, the reverence for the Constitution and 
the Union with which that great statesman had inspired so many 

1 Daniel Webster, born at Salisbury, New Hampshire, 1782 (see note to § 92) ; died at 
his residence at Marshfield, near Boston, 1852. He graduated at Dartmouth College, and 
began the practice of law in 1805. In 1812 he was elected to Congress, and again in 1822. 
From this time forward he was constantly in public life, as representative, senator, or in the 
cabinet. He was unquestionably the greatest orator this country has produced, and as a 
statesman he stood second to none. His defense of the Union in his second reply to Senator 
Hayne, January 26-27, 1830, has been called " the most remarkable speech ever made in the 
American Congress." Webster's " Reply to Calhoun " was delivered February 16, 1833. 




John C. Calhoun 



233 



234 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1832-1837 

hearts, made thousands willing to die to save it. The North and 
the South are now one. Discord has passed away, and as brothers 
we join in honoring the memory of Daniel Webster for his services 
to our common country. 

269. Jackson^s Fidelity to the Union; his Orders to General 
Scott ; Henry Clay obtains a New Tariff. President Jackson had 
the same feeling that Webster had of the necessity of preserving 
the Union. He did not like the protective tariff as it then stood 
(§ 267), but he resolved to enforce it so long as it remained law. 
He saw that what was called the doctrine of '' State Sovereignty," 
that is, the so-called right of a state to decide for itself when it 
would obey Congress and when it would not (§§ 210, 267), was 
destructive of all national government. 

The Union, said he, is at present like a bag of meal with both 
ends open. Whichever way you try to handle it you will spill the 
meal. '' I must tie the bag and save the country." 

So saying, the President ordered General Scott (1832) to go 
forthwith to Charleston and enforce the law. It was done, and 
the duties on imported goods in that city were collected as usual. 

A few months later (1833) Henry Clay, the ''great compro- 
miser and peacemaker" (§243), succeeded in getting Congress 
to adopt a new tariff which gradually reduced the duties or taxes 
on foreign goods. This change of policy pacified South Carolina 
and that state said nothing more about nullification (§ 267). At 
that time we were very prosperous and did not owe a dollar of 
public debt. 

270. Growth of the Country; Extension of Canals and Rail- 
ways ; Use of Coal ; the Express System. With the exception of a 
very destructive fire in New York City (1835), Jackson's presidency 
was a period of rapid growth for the entire country, but especially 
for the West. New canals had been opened (§ 249), lines of steam- 
boats had been established on the principal western rivers and 
on all the Great Lakes (§ 220), and the whistle of the locomotive 
was beginning to be heard beyond the Alleghenies (§§254, 255). 
Arkansas and the rapidly growing territory of Michigan were ad- 
mitted to the Union (i 836-1 837), making twenty-six states in all. 




Daniel Webster 



236 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1832- 



Both hard and soft coal ^ had been found in immense quantities 
in Pennsylvania, and they were now coming into use for manu- 
facturing. These coal mines have been worth more to the country 
than all the gold mines of California. 

The increased activity of the country, in connection with steam- 
boats and railways, gave rise to a new enterprise. A young man 
named Harnden^ conceived the plan of making a business of 
carrying parcels between Boston and New York, and shortly after 
(1839) began it. At first a small hand bag was sufficient to hold 
all the articles sent. In that humble way he laid the foundation of 
the American express system, which now extends to every town 
^ of the United States, 

- illR^^^^^^ > and employs millions 

of money and an army 
of men to do its work. 
271. Indian Wars; 
Growth of the West; 
Chicago. The increased 
growth of the country 
alarmed Black Hawk, 
a famous Indian chief 
at the West, and he 
(1832), at the head of 
a large body of Indians, attempted to prevent emigrants from 
taking possession of public lands in the state of Illinois and the 
territories of Iowa and Wisconsin. He was defeated and driven 
beyond the Mississippi. This greatly encouraged emigration to 
the western states and territories. 

Shortly after this the second Seminole War began (1835) in 
Florida (§238). The Indians were led by Osceola, a celebrated 
chief, who had been badly treated by the whites. The war lasted 




Indians attacking Emigrants in the West 



1 Hard or anthracite coal was not discovered until 1790. The first load taken to Phila- 
delphia, in 1803, was used as stone to mend roads, 

2 William Frederick Hamden was born in Reading, Massachusetts, in 1813; died 1845. 
On his monument, erected at Mount Auburn cemetery, near Boston, by the " Express 
Companies of the United States," he is called the " Founder of the Express Business in 
America." 



1833] 



ART, BOOKS, AND NEWSPAPERS 



237 




Chicago in 1833 



nearly seven years. The Indians were defeated by Colonel Zach- 
ary Taylor ; they were finally conquered, and all but a few were 
sent west of the Mississippi by 
General Worth. 

On the southwestern shore of 
Lake Michigan stood Fort Dear- 
born. A struggling slab village was 
growing up on the mud flats around 
it. Two years later (1833), the little 
settlement took the name of Chi- 
cago. It had then become a lively 
town of between five and six hun- 
dred inhabitants, and some of its 
people were bold enough to think 
that it might grow to be still larger. To-day the population of 
*' Greater Chicago" is estimated at about 2,500,000. It stands 

the great metropolis of the 
Northwest. 

272. American Art, Books, 
and Newspapers. America had 
already produced five emi- 
nent painters — West, Copley, 
Stuart, Trumbull, and Allston. 
We also had three noted writ- 
ers. They were Cooper, the 
novelist, who wrote exciting 
tales of life on the sea and 
in the wilderness ; Bryant, our 
first great poet ; and Washing- 
ton Irving, the author of '' Rip 
Van Winkle " and of many 
more delightful stories. 

But when Jackson was first 

elected a book had just been 

published (1828) in this country which was in one respect more 

remarkable than any that had yet appeared, for it contained the 











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H niHIIHISH 




H^^ 




mm 




!I9Idh& 


nf j| HVIl^^^^^HJI 










HtB BfeHJ- 


nP|iy|HH| 




MWIMMiKii- 






HH 






5» 


Xrt ^VMifflBi 


i^R """ 


' J 


- ^^^^m 






m vf^^ 


W/x^- 




t / '^ 



Chicago To- Day 



238 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1835- 

whole English language.^ This was Webster's Dictionary, by 
Noah Webster of Connecticut. It had cost the author and com- 
piler nearly twenty years of labor, and it made his name and 
work known in every schoolhouse of the United States. 

Following Webster came the poets Whittier, Longfellow, Holmes, 
Lowell, and Poe ; Emerson, with his wonderful essays on nature ; 
Hawthorne, with his stories of New England; Audubon, with 
his magnificent work on the '' Birds of America " ; Bancroft, 
with his history of the United States, followed by the historians 
Prescott, Modey, and Parkman. It was the beginning of Ameri- 
can literature. 2 

About the same time (1833) the New York S?m, the first cheap 
American newspaper ever published, which sold for one cent, 
appeared in New York. From that time forward the poorest 
man could afford to carry home in his pocket at night a daily 
history of the world's doings. 

273. Henry Clay and the Whigs. During Jackson's adminis- 
tration a new political party called Whigs came into existence. 
They vehemently opposed Jackson's measures and favored the 
continuance of the United States Bank. 

Henry Clay (§§243, 269), the leader of the new party, had a 
strong desire to become President. He hoped that the votes of 
the Whigs would elect him. 

274. Summary. Seven important events marked the administra- 
tion of Andrew Jackson. They were: (i) the beginning of the 
system of removals from government offices for political reasons ; 
(2) the commencement of the anti-slavery movement by William 

1 The best English dictionary before Webster's was Dr. Samuel Johnson's, first published 
in London in 1755. It had not really been revised for seventy years, and was very unsatis- 
factory to Americans, since it did not contain many familiar American words, such as " con- 
gress" (in the sense of a national legislature), "savings bank," "prairie," and hundreds of 
others. Webster thought that America had as good a right to coin new words as England 
had. He accordingly included these words in his dictionary; in his definitions he was 
generally far superior to Johnson. 

2 For interesting examples of poems connected with American history,' see Whittier's 
'' Laus Deo," " Our State," and the " Song of the Kansas Emigrant " ; Longfellow's " Paul 
Revere's Ride"; Holmes' "Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill"; Lowell's "Present 
Crisis," " Jonathan to John," " Commemoration Ode, 1865 " ; Emerson's " Concord Hymn "; 
and Bryant's " Song of Marion's Men," and Joaquin Miller's " Columbus." 



1837] VAN BUREN'S ADMINISTRATION 239 

Lloyd Garrison ; (3) the overthrow of the United States Bank ; 
(4) the dispute over the protective tariff, and the '' nuUification " 
of acts of Congress by South Carohna ; (5) the rise of the Whig 
party ; (6) Indian wars in the West and South ; (7) the rise of 
American Hterature and of cheap newspapers. 

Martin Van Buren^ 

275. Van Buren's Administration (Eighth President, One Term, 
1837-1841); Business Failures ; Financial Panic. In his farewell 
address, President Jackson had said, '' I leave this great people 
prosperous and happy." But Mr. Van Buren had scarcely entered 
upon the duties of his office when a large business house in New 
Orleans failed (1837). It was the beginning of a panic in trade 
and money matters which swept over the country like the waters 
of a destroying flood. 

In ten days one hundred merchants in New York City had lost 
everything; and within two months the total business failures in 
that city reached $100,000,000. Next, the banks began to fail; 
and the difficulty of getting gold or silver became so great that 
even the United States government had to pay the army and navy 
in paper money, which, if it chanced to be good to-day, might be 
worthless to-morrow. John Quincy Adams (§ 249) declared that, 
''without a dollar of national debt, we are in the midst of national 
bankruptcy." 

276. Stoppage of Trade; Distress among Workmen; Failures 
of States ; Causes of the Panic. Soon factories and mills stopped 
running, and nearly all trade came to a standstill. Thousands of 
workmen were suddenly thrown out of employment, and saw no 
way of earning bread for themselves and their families. 

Many states had borrowed large sums of money in Europe for 
the purpose of building roads, canals, and railways. In seven 

1 Martin Van Buren was born in New York in 1782; died in 1862. He was United 
States senator from 1821-1828, governor of New York later, and Secretary of State 
under Jackson, 1829-1831. In 1836 he was elected President (R. M. Johnson of Ken- 
tucky, Vice President) by the Democratic party, over General W. H. Harrison, the Whig 
candidate. 



240 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1837-1840 

years the total debt of this kind had risen from ^13,000,000 to 
nearly $200,000,000. It was exceedingly difficult, if not impos- 
sible, for a number of these states ^ to raise money to meet the 
interest ; and one state pdsitively refused to pay anything what- 
ever, whether interest or principal. This desperate state of things 
had three chief causes. 

1 . Jackson's successful attack on the second United States Bank 
(§265) encouraged the establishment of a great number of worth- 
less state banks, especially in the West. 

2. People borrowed large sums of paper money from these 
state banks and bought immense tracts of government land at 
high prices. Some of the land was in the backwoods of Maine, 
and some of it consisted of town lots in so-called western " cities." 
These '' cities " often had no existence except on plans shown by 
speculators, or they were perhaps six feet under water. 

3. The national government suddenly called in the gold and 
silver which it had deposited in certain state banks, nicknamed 
'' pet banks " (§ 265), and refused to sell any more public land 
except for hard cash. This condition of things made every one 
anxious to get coin at a time when it was not to be had. 

The result was that property of all kinds fell in price, men could 
neither collect debts nor pay them, the state banks could not get 
specie to redeem their bills, and the crash came. After a time 
confidence began to be restored, business sprang up, and a new 
period of prosperity commenced. 

277. The Government establishes an Independent Treasury. 
This panic in business had at least one good result. Up to this 
time the national government had never taken entire charge of 
its own money, but had let one or more banks have the care of 
it. The disastrous failure of these '' pet banks " (§276) taught 
Congress a lesson; and the United States opened (1840) an 
independent treasury at Washington, with branches, known as 

1 Seven states — Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsyl- 
vania, and Florida, then a territory — suspended payment of interest. Mississippi repu- 
diated her entire debt on the ground that it had been incurred in violation of the state 
constitution. Sydney Smith's " Letters on American Debts," Dickens' " American Notes " 
and " Martin Chuzzlewit " show how sore the English creditors felt about these failures. 



1840] 



RISE OF THE MORMONS 



241 



subtreasuries,^ in the chief cities. The experiment was given up the 
next year, but later (1846) this system was permanently established. 
In this way the government was protected against loss. 

278. Rise of the Mormons ; Nauvoo. While Van Buren was Pres- 
ident a new religious community, called Mormons, setded in Illinois. 
Its founder was Joseph Smith, a native of Vermont.^ While living in 
New York he declared that an angel from heaven gave him a number 
of golden plates, like 
sheets of tin, on which a 
new scripture was writ- 
ten called the '' Book 
of Mormon." ^ 

Smith went to Ohio, 
to Missouri, and, finally, 
to Illinois, where he 
and his followers, the 
'' Latter Day Saints " 
or Mormons, built the 
''Holy City" of Nau- 
voo, or the *' Beautiful 
City," on the banks of 
the Mississippi. Smith said that God told him that every true Mor- 
mon marriage would last forever, and he urged every good Mormon 
to marry more than one wife. Those, said he, who keep this law 
will, in the next world, " pass by the angels " in glory .^ 




Emigration uf the Muraiuns 



1 Subtreasuries : from the Latin word sud, meaning " under " ; hence subordinate, or 
smaller treasuries. The chief treasury is in the Treasury Building at Washington ; the sub- 
treasuries are in (i) New York, (2) Philadelphia, (3) Chicago, (4) Boston, (5) St. Louis, 
(6) Cincinnati, (7) San Francisco, (8) New Orleans, (9) Baltimore. 

2 Joseph Smith was born in 1805 in Sharon, Vermont, and was murdered at Carthage, 
Illinois, in 1844. He said that the Book of Mormon was written in an unknown tongue, but 
that the angel provided him with a peculiar kind of glasses by which to read and translate 
it. The Mormons declare, " W' e beUeve the Bible to be the Word of God, so far as it is 
translated correctly ; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God." 

3 Mormon: a name derived from that of the alleged writer of the Book of Mormon, a 
Jew, who, as the Mormons believe, lived in this country about a thousand years before 
Columbus discovered it. 

4 This doctrine (see the Mormon " Book of Covenants and Doctrine ") was not fully 
published to the world until 1852. One branch of the Mormons — the " Josephites " — deny 
that Smith ever taught the doctrine, but say it was invented by Brigham Young and others 



242 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1841- 

Shortly after this, several persons who had belonged to the 
Mormons began publishing a paper in Nauvoo, in which they 
accused Smith of leading an evil life. Smith broke up the paper. 
For this he was arrested, and while in jail at Carthage (1844) was 
shot by a mob who had no faith in him or his religion. 

279. Emigration of the Mormons to Utah; what they have 
accomplished there. Brigham Young of Vermont — a man as 
keen-sighted in the things of this world as it was said Smith had 
been in those of the other — now became leader of the Mormons ; 
but the people around Nauvoo forced the '' Saints " to leave, and 
cross the Mississippi. Young started for the Far West (1847), 
and, with about a hundred and fifty followers, reached Salt Lake, 
in territory then belonging to Mexico, but which is now the state 
of Utah. Later, he led a much larger number of Mormon emi- 
grants to the same place. It was a journey of 1 500 miles through 
the wilderness. The country bordering on the lake was a desert. 

The hunters of that desolate region predicted that the Mormons 
would starve. But Young set his company to work digging ditches 
to bring water from the mountains ; every street in the village had 
two of these ditches running through the length of it, one on each 
side. The abundant supply of water soon made the dead, dry soil 
green with waving crops of wheat and corn. It was an object lesson 
in irrigation which has been of inestimable value in many parts of 
the West (§ 430, No. 3). Industry transformed the desert into a 
garden. Since then the Mormons have prospered. Many non- 
Mormons, attracted by the climate, have taken residence there. 
The village of Salt Lake has grown to be a flourishing city. The 
Mormons finally gave up their peculiar forms of marriage (§ 2^8) 
and Utah entered the Union (1896). 

280. Emigration to the United States; Ocean Steamships and 
American "Clipper Ships '*; Growth of the West. Before the 
Mormons had started for the Far West an immense emigration 
from Europe to the United States began. 

Up to that date (1840) the total number of immigrants that 
had landed here since the Revolution was probably less than a 
million. But in the course of the next ten years (1840-1850) the 



1841-] EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 243 

terrible potato famine in Ireland and the '' hard times " in Ger- 
many drove hundreds of thousands to seek our shores. This great 
stream of immigrants has never ceased, and some years it has 
averaged more than 20,000 newcomers a week ! 

Of late years the majority of those who come are Italians, Rus- 
sians, and Polish Jews. In all, more than 33,000,000 foreigners 
have settled in the United States since the government began 
to keep count (1820). This enormous number includes a host of 
Swedes and Norwegians, who have become western farmers ; 
while people coming from other parts of Europe have helped to 
build our railways, develop our coal and iron mines, and work in 
our cotton and woolen mills. 

For many years we kept the door of America wide open. We 
asked no one where he came from. We asked him nothing about 
his health, his character, or his intentions. We simply took him 
by the hand and said, " Come in ! " But after a time we deter- 
mined (1882) to exclude the Chinese and certain classes of white 
workingmen (1887), because we believed that their cheap labor 
would bring down the wages of our own laboring men (§ 382). 
Later (1907), we excluded the Japanese for the same reason. 

Now we go further than that. We still give the heartiest of 
welcomes to all who can help us make our country stronger and 
better. But to those who come to America to beg, to steal, to 
make trouble, or who would in any way do us more harm than 
good, we say, " Keep out! " — and we mean what we say.^ 

During the first part of the period we have been describing 
(1840-18 50) a very great change took place in ocean navigation. 
The Cunard Company of Liverpool established the first regular 
line of ocean steamers in the world (§ 220), and Americans began 
to build superb '' clipper ships " for the Adantic and Asiatic trade. 
These wonderful vessels (which, after a while, were superseded 
by ships built of iron, and then by steamers built of steel) far sur- 
passed all others in beauty and speed. 

1 Besides excluding wholly, or partially, the Chinese, Japanese, and all alien contract 
labor immigrants (§ 382), our laws shut out lunatics, idiots, criminals, professional beggars, 
anarchists, those who have dangerous diseases, those who cannot earn their bread, and 
those who cannot read English or some other language. 



244 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [i84i- 

In time both '' clippers " and steamers helped to greatly increase 
immigration to our shores. The multitudes who came to America 
by these vessels made the West grow "by leaps and bounds." 




A Twentieth-Century Ocean Steamer 

To-day a single one of these huge steamships, some of which ex- 
ceed 50,000 tons burden, often brings more than 2000 immigrants. 

281. Summary. This period began with a disastrous panic in 
trade by which great numbers were ruined ; it was followed by 
the establishment by the government of the independent treasury 
system ; then came the vastly increased emigration, from Europe 
to the United States, the establishment of lines of European steam- 
ships on the Atlantic, and the building of American "clipper ships." 
Meanwhile the great Mormon movement to Utah began. 

William Henry Harrison (Whig) ; John Tyler (Democrat) 

282. Harrison and Tyler's Administrations (Ninth and Tenth 
Presidents, One Term, 1841-1845) ; how Harrison was elected; 
his Death. General Harrison,^ '' the hero of Tippecanoe " (§ 225), 
was elected President amidst the wildest excitement. Ever since 
the election of Jefferson (1800), or for forty years, the Democrats 

1 William Henry Harrison was born in Virginia in 1773. His father, Benjamin Harrison, 
was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. From 1801 to 1813 Harrison 
was governor of what was then the territory of Indiana. In 181 1 he defeated the Indians in 
a great battle at Tippecanoe, Indiana (§225). During the War of 1812 he was appointed a 
major general in the regular army. Later, he returned to his farm at North Bend, on the 
Ohio, near Cincinnati. In 1840 he was elected President (John Tyler, a Democrat of Vir- 
ginia, Vice President) by the Whig party, by an immense majority over Van Buren, the 
Democratic candidate. 



1841-] 



ELECTION OF HARRISON 



245 



had carried the day ; now their opponents, the Whigs, ^ were 
victors. Harrison was then hving on his farm, in a clearing on 
the banks of the Ohio. 

He was popularly known as ''the Log-Cabin candidate." The 
farmers of the West gathered to his support with a will. They 
had monster outdoor meetings, and processions miles long, in 
which a log cabin on wheels 
was always a conspicuous 
object, with its live coon 
fastened on the roof, and its 
barrel of hard cider stand- 
ing handy by the open door. 
The enthusiasm increased 
more and more as election 
day drew near. The rous- 
ing song of " Tippecanoe 
and Tyler too " stirred the 
blood of all true Whigs, and 
with shouts of exultation 
they sent the occupant of 
the Ohio log cabin to re- 
side in the White House 
at Washington. 

A month later President 
Harrison died, and the joy 
of his friends was suddenly changed into mourning. Vice President 
Tyler, who was practically a Democrat,^ now became President ; ^ 




Harrison's Election 



1 The Whigs (§ 273) wished (i) to have the government carry on the building of canals, 
roads, and other internal improvements ; (2) to protect manufactures by a high tariff ; (3) to 
reestablish the United States Bank, and part of the Whigs wished to restrict the extension 
of slavery. The Democrats held that each state should make its own improvements ; that 
free trade was better than protection ; that an independent treasury was better than a United 
States Bank ; and that the slavery question should be left to the people of the different states. 

2 Tyler was in most respects a Democrat, though he had acted, to some extent, with the 
Whigs. The Whigs nominated him to the vice presidency in order to secure Southern votes, 
and thus make sure of electing Harrison. 

3 In case of the death of the President, the Constitution provides that the Vice President 
shall succeed him. See the Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 6 ; also the Presi- 
dential Succession Act (§ 392). 



246 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1842- 

and he and the Whig Congress were soon engaged in a series of 
hopeless poUtical quarrels. 

283. The Dorr Rebellion; the Webster-Ashburton Treaty; the 
Anti-Renters. In Rhode Island the right to vote was confined 
to persons holding real estate, and to their eldest sons. Newport, 
where there were many landholders, had six representatives in the 
state legislature, while Providence, with a population nearly three 
times as great, had only four. The party in favor of reform finally 
framed a new constitution, and elected (1842) Thomas W. Dorr 
for governor. The opposite or state government party, headed by 
Governor King, denied Dorr's right to hold office. Both sides 
took up arms, but no blood was shed and nobody was hurt. Dorr 
was arrested and thrown into prison, but was released a few years 
later, and lived to see his party successful in the reform they 
had attempted. 

The same year (1842) Daniel Webster, representing the United 
States, and Lord Ashburton, representing Great Britain, settled 
the question of the boundary between Maine and Canada, by an 
agreement known as the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. The dis- 
pute in regard to the true line between the two countries had been 
very bitter, and the friendly settlement of the controversy was of 
the greatest advantage to both England and America. Further- 
more, this treaty fixed our northern boundary between the Lake of 
the Woods (Minnesota) and the Rocky Mountains at the 49th 
parallel. (Map, p. 358.) 

At the same time Mr. Webster declared that in future England 
must understand that our flag would protect American vessels 
against Great Britain's so-called ''right of search" (§§ 226, 233). 

In New York the tenants of the Van Rensselaer family, on the 
Hudson (§61), refused to pay rent for their farms, on the ground 
that the Revolution had swept away the old Dutch methods of 
letting land. It became necessary to call out a military force to 
protect the sheriff in his attempts to collect the rents ; finally a 
political party was formed (1843), favoring the anti-renters, as they 
werd called, and a change was made (1846) in the state constitu- 
tion for their benefit. 



1844-] THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, 1844 247 

284. The Electric Telegraph, 1844; Dr. Mortoii*s Discovery. 

Two years later, 1844, travelers from Baltimore to Washington 
saw a force of men engaged in putting up several lines of cop- 
per wire on a row of lofty poles extending between the two cities. 
It was the first telegraph line erected in the United States, or in 
the world. After four years of weary waiting, Professor Morse, ^ 
the inventor of the telegraph, had at length got a grant of ^30,000 
from Congress for the purpose of proving that a message could 
be sent by electricity a distance of forty miles ! 

On the morning of May 24, 1 844, Professor Morse took his seat 
at the telegraph instrument placed in the Supreme Court Room 
in the Capitol. Many of the chief officers of the government were 
present. The professor pressed the key of the instrument with his 
finger. In an instant the waiting operator at Baltimore received 
the message, and it was sent back to the Capitol. Here it is : 

What hath GOD 

w r u g hi. 

In a minute of time these words had traversed a circuit of eighty 
miles. When they were read in the Court Room a thrill of awe 
ran through those who reverently listened ; it seemed as though 
the finger of God, not man, had written the message. 

Professor Morse's success was complete. He predicted that 
some day lines of telegraph would not only stretch in all direc- 
tions over the land, but would be laid at the bottom of the sea 
between Europe and America. The telegraph accomplished all 
that he prophesied and more, for in time it not only crossed the 
Atlantic (1866) (§ 367), but the Pacific as well (1902) (§ 428). 

We shall see (§ 373) that more than thirty years later (1876) 
the telegraph was supplanted, in a measure, by the telephone. 

1 Samuel F. B, Morse was bom in Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1791 ; died in New York, 
1872. He became an artist, and, in 1830, Professor of the Literature of the Arts of Design 
in the University of the City of New York. He conceived the idea of the electric telegraph 
in 1832. Later, his associate, Mr. Alfred Vail of New Jersey, rendered very important serv- 
ices in perfecting the work. See Century Magazine, April, 1888. 

2 The characters over the printed letters represent the letters of the telegraphic alphabet 
The words are quoted from the Bible ; Numbers xxiii. 23. 



248 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1845 



Meanwhile (1871), at a celebration held in New York in honor 
of Professor Morse, the original instrument invented by him was 
exhibited, connected, at that moment, by wire, with every one 
of the ten thousand instruments then in use in this country. At a 
signal, a message from the inventor was sent vibrating throughout 
the United States, and was simultaneously read in every city and in 
most towns of the republic, from New York to New Orleans, from 

New Orleans to San Francisco. 
Professor Morse died the next 
year (1872). A little more than 
twenty years after his death a new 
form of telegraph was invented 
by Marconi, an Italian. It sends 
its messages directly through the 
air without the use of wires, and 
so is called the " Wireless Tele- 
graph " (§ 428). It is chiefly em- 
ployed by steamships and naval 
vessels, to communicate with each 
other or with certain stations on 
land. It has helped to save many 
vessels and many lives. 

Thought had conquered space ; 
it was to make its next conquest 
in a wholly different direction. While Professor Morse was build- 
ing the first telegraph line, Dr. W. T. G. Morton of Boston, acting 
on the suggestion of Dr. Charles T. Jackson, was endeavoring to 
produce artificial sleep by the breathing of the vapor of ether. He 
believed that, if successful, all suffering under the surgeon's knife 
would be at an end. He did succeed ; and the great fact was made 
known to the world at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Bos- 
ton (1846). As the inscription on Dr. Morton's monument truth- 
fully declares : " Before that discovery, surgery was agony ; since, 
science has controlled pain." ^ 




Erecting the First Telegraph 
Line 



1 Dr. Horace Wells, of Hartford, began to make use (1844) of nitrous oxide gas as an 
anaesthetic in the extraction of teeth. Between 1S20 and 1846 there were invented in this 



1845] THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS 249 

285. Our Third Step in National Expansion, the Annexation of 
Texas. The great political question of the times was the admis- 
sion of Texas. Many years before this period Stephen F. Austin, 
General Sam Houston, and other Americans had settled in that 
country, — then a part of Mexico, — and had finally, by force of 
arms, made it an independent republic. The republic of Texas 
now asked to be annexed to the United States. (Map, p. 332.) 

A powerful party at the South was anxious to obtain it for the 
purpose of making a number of new slave states out of it, and 
thus maintaining their influence in Congress. ^ The Anti-Slavery 
party at the North strongly opposed the annexation ;2 but Con- 
gress, after much debate, decided to make it. It was our third 
step in expansion (§§215, 238). Thus (March i, 1845) we ob- 
tained a territory so vast that, as Daniel Webster said, a bird 
could not fly over it in a week, — a territory large enough to make 
nearly five countries the size of England, or more than that num- 
ber of states, each larger than New York. Texas,- however, was 
not admitted to the Union until after the next President came 
into ofiice (§ 287) (December 29, 1845). 

286. Summary. The principal events of the Harrison and 
Tyler administrations were: (i) the death of the President; fol- 
lowed (2) by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty ; (3) the Dorr Re- 
bellion ; (4) the opening of the first line of electric telegraph in 
the United States or the world; (5) the use of ether in surgery; 
and (6) the annexation of Texas. 

country: (i) Blanchard's Eccentric Lathe for turning gunstocks and other irregular forms; 

(2) McCormick's Reaper and Mower and Hussey's Reaper and Mower; (3) Colt's Revolver; 
(4) Ericsson's Screw Propeller; (5) Goodyear's Hard Rubber goods; (6) Hoe's Steam 
Printing Press; (7) Howe's Sewing Machine. The following inventions came from abroad: 
(i) Knitting Machines; (2) Planing Machines (greatly improved in 1828 by Woodworth) ; 

(3) Friction Matches, 1836 (gas had been introduced in 1822) ; (4) the Steam Fire Engine, 
1841, but not brought into practical use until much later; (5) the Daguerreotype and Pho- 
tograph, 1843; (6) the Diving Dress, 1S43. On earlier American inventions, see §§ 205, 
220, 252. 

1 By the Missouri Compromise (§ 243) slavery could not be extended west of the Mis- 
sissippi, outside of Missouri, north of 36° 30' (the southern boundary of Missouri). Unless, 
therefore, the South got more territory annexed southwest of the Mississippi, the North 
would soon have the chief power in Congress. 

2 James Russell Lowell's fine poem, " The Present Crisis," expresses the feeling of the 
Anti-Slavery party at this time 



2 so LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1846- 



James K. Polk (Democrat) 

287. Polk's Administration (Eleventh President, One Term, 
1 845-1 849) ; Dispute about Oregon. Congress had annexed Texas 
(§ 285), and when Mr. Polk^ entered office the first question was, 
what should be done about Oregon. We claimed the whole country 
west of the Rocky Mountains, north of California (then a part of 
Mexico), to Alaska ; that is, from parallel 42° to 54° 40'. Our 
claim rested on: (i) Captain Gray's discovery of the Columbia 
River (1792) (§ 216); (2) Lewis and Clark's exploration (1805- 
1806) (§216); (3) fur-trading posts begun by Astor (18 II) (§ 216); 

(4) our treaty with Eng- 
land (1 8 1 8), and with 
Spain (1819) (§ 238). 
(Map, p. 194.) But 
England disputed our 
claim to the country 
and wanted to keep it 
a wilderness in order 
to get supplies of furs 
there. 

288. American Mis- 
sionaries go to Oregon. 
Meanwhile American 
fur traders went out 




Whitman's Journey to Oregon 



to Oregon, and Jason Lee went as missionary to the Indians 
and settled (1834) in the beautiful Willamette Valley .^ Next, 
Dr. Marcus Whitman went (1836) to the Walla Walla Valley to do 
the same work.^ He and his companion^ took their brides with 
them in a wagon. They were the first emigrants who opened up a 
passage on wheels to the Oregon Country, and their young wives 
were the first white women who crossed the Rocky Mountains to 



1 James K. Polk was born in North Carolina, 1795 ; died, 1849. He emigrated with his 
father to Tennessee in 1806, and was elected governor of that state in 1839. In 1844 he was 
elected President by the Democrats (George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania, Vice President), 
over Henry Clay, the Whig candidate. 

2 See Map of Oregon, opposite. 3 Rev. H, H. Spalding ; he settled near Leuiston, Idaho. 



1845-] 



HOW WE GOT OREGON 



251 



make homes in the far West. Two years later, quite a number of 
missionaries, with their famiUes, went out by sea to help Jason Lee 
in his work. They were followed (1842) by more than a hundred 
settlers who traveled overland to take up farms. 

289. Dr. Whitman *s Journey to the East ; our Fourth Step 
in National Expansion ; how we got Oregon ; the Treaty. Later 
in the same year Dr. Whitman started for the East to get help for 
his mission. He also hoped to get some families to go out there. 
The distance was between three and four thousand miles, and the 
doctor's sufferings on the way were severe. He had to face winter 
storms in the mountains, the ter- 
rors of starvation and of attacks 
by Indians. But he kept on and 
in five months reached Boston. 

In 1843 about a thousand 
"home builders" started from 
Missouri for the Willamette 
Valley. Many took their wives 
and children with them, also 
horses, wagons, and cattle. They 
meant to found a new state on 
the Pacific coast. Dr. Whitman 
joined this great emigration, acting as guide part of the time. On 
the arrival of the emigrants in Oregon,^ Dr. John McLoughlin, 
agent of the British Fur Company and founder of Oregon City, 
gave them abundant and indispensable help. These men, with 
those who followed, saved the larger part of the Oregon Country. 
By the time that Polk became President we had such a strong 
hold on it that the cry in 1846 was, ''The British must go" — 
" The whole of Oregon, or none " — " Fifty-four forty, or fight ! " ^ 
But later in the same year (1846) the United States and Great 

1 On Oregon, see H. H. Bancroft's "Oregon," I, ch. 15 ; Blaine's " Congress," I, 55 ; 
Benton's "Thirty Years' View," 11,469; E. G. Bourne's "Historical Essays"; Lyman's 
"Oregon"; F. V. Holman's "McLoughlin"; and O'Hara's "Catholic History of Oregon." 

2 In other words, we insisted that the British must give up the entire country below 
54° 40', or fight. Captain Gray's discovery of the Columbia River, Lewis and Clark's expedi- 
tion, our settlements, and the Spanish treaty of 1819 gave us a better claim than the English 
had (§§ 216, 238). 






UPPER MEXICO %^^,1^v. 
(Now California etc.) '"'S'-^ 



Map of Oregon 



252 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1846 

Britain made a treaty by which they agreed to divide the country 
between them.^ It was our fourth step in national expansion 
(§§ 215, 238, 285). We took the portion between the boundary 
of upper Mexico (now CaUfornia), or 42°, and the parallel of 49° 
north, including the Columbia River ; the English took the re- 
mainder, from 49° to Alaska. (Map, p. 251.) Our part included 
what are now the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts 
of Wyoming and Montana, — a territory covering in all not far 
from 300,000 square miles. (Map, p. 33^-) 

290. The Mexican War ; Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
Palma. But though the Oregon Treaty settled the fact that we 
should not fight with Great Britain, yet we were soon at war with 
our next-door neighbor, the feeble repubhc of Mexico. Texas and 
Mexico got into a dispute over the western boundary of Texas 
(§285). Texas stoutly insisted that the line was at the Rio Grande 
River ; Mexico denied this, and vehemently declared that it was on 
the Nueces River, about a hundred miles east of the Rio Grande. 
(Map, No. I, p. 253.) 

The President commanded General Taylor to seize the strip 
of land between the rivers. To quote General Grant's words, our 
troops were sent there " to provoke a fight." ^ Mexico was weak, 
but not cowardly. The Mexican government ordered Taylor to 
leave the eastern bank of the Rio Grande, where he held Fort 
Brown. He refused, and the Mexicans crossed the river (April 24, 
1846), and shed the first blood.^ Soon after. General Taylor — 
or "Old Rough and Ready," as his men called him — gained the 
victory in the battle of Palo Alto (May 8, 1846); and the next 
day (May 9) that of Resaca de la Palma. The Mexicans retreated 
across the Rio Grande ; Taylor followed them and took possession 
of a small town on. Mexican soil. 

1 The treaty of 1846 extended the Webster- Ashburton line (§ 283) through to the Pacific. 
The boundary is marked by mounds, heaps of stones, posts, and cast-iron pillars ; the pillars 
are placed a mile apart, 2 See " Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant," I, 68. 

3 The blood was shed on territory claimed by Mexico ; but the President's message stated 
that it had been spilt on " 02ir own tcrritoyyP Abraham Lincoln, then in Congress, demanded, 
in a series of resolutions, known as the " Spot " resolutions, to be informed where the exact 
" spot " of this bloodshed was, and whether it had not been provoked by a body of armed 
Americans sent there by order of our government. 



THE MEXICAN WAR 



253 



291. Congress declares War; Battles of Monterey and Buena 
Vista; Conquest of California and New Mexico. Congress now 
(May 13, 1846) declared war against Mexico, and thousands of 




No. I, The Mexican War; No. II, Scott's March to the 
City of Mexico 

volunteers, mainly from the southern and southwestern states, 
enlisted to fight against her. 

In the autumn (September 24, 1846) General Taylor attacked 
the Mexicans at Monterey, and took the town after a desperate 
battle of four days.^ Early the next year, Santa Anna, the Mexican 

1 Read Hoffman's poem of " Monterey " in " Heroic fiallads " (Ginn and Company). 



254 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1847 

president and commander in chief, led a force of 20,000 men 
against Taylor, who had only about a fourth of that number. The 
battle was fought at Buena Vista, in the mountains (1847). We 
had the advantage of position, and after an all day's fight the 
Mexicans retreated. (Map, p. 253.) 

This victory gave us possession of northeastern Mexico. General 
Taylor returned home in November (1847) and the fame of this 
battle made him President of the United States two years later. 
Meanwhile (1846), an American fleet with the help of Colonel 
Fremont had conquered California ; and General Kearney had 
seized Santa Fe, and with it the territory now called New Mexico. 

292. General Scott sent to Mexico; he takes Vera Cruz; Vic- 
tory of Cerro Gordo. General Winfield Scott (§231) had now 
been ordered to Mexico with a second army, Flis plan was to land 
at Vera Cruz (Map, p. 253), and march directly on the city of 
Mexico, 200 miles distant. After nine days' fighting he took 
Vera Cruz and the strong fortress of San Juan de Ulua, which 
defended it by sea (spring of 1847). General Scott said that this 
important victory was due in great measure to the remarkable en- 
gineering skill of Captain Robert E. Lee of Virginia, who eighteen 
years later became commander in chief of all the Confederate armies 
in the Civil War. Then pushing forward, Scott fought a battle 
at the mountain pass of Cerro Gordo, driving the Mexicans be- 
fore him. Late in the summer (1847) he crossed the last ridge 
of mountains, and saw the spires and towers of the capital of 
Mexico glittering in the sun. The city is situated in a valley. It 
was surrounded with fortifications, and could only be reached 
by a few narrow roads of stone built across the marshes. Scott 
had about 11,000 men to attack an army which numbered more 
than three to his one, while the city itself had a population of 
nearly 200,000. 

293. Victories in the Vicinity of the City of Mexico ; the City 
taken. With heavy loss to ourselves as well as to the enemy, we 
fought and won in a single day (1847) a succession of battles ^ near 
the city, — every one ending in victory to our arms. A few weeks 

1 These were the battles of Contreras, San Antonio, and Churubusco. 



1847-1848] CESSIONS OF MEXICAN TERRITORY 255 

later we attacked and carried the fortified mill of Molino del Rey ; 
five days later we took the castle of Chapultepec. 

The next morning (September 14, 1847) Scott's little army, 
now numbering only 6000 men, entered the city of Mexico and 
hoisted the Stars and Stripes over the ancient palace, or so-called 
''Halls of the Montezumas."^ In the conquering army there was 
a young lieutenant from Ohio, whom we shall meet again — his 
name was Ulysses S. Grant.^ 

The fall of the city of Mexico practically ended the war, which had 
lasted less than two years. With the exception of our recent contest 
with Spain (1898), it was the only war recorded in American history 
in which all the victories were on one side ; for our troops gained 
every battle, and gained it in every instance against a larger force. 

294. Our Fifth Step in National Expansion ; Cessions of Mexi- 
can Territory; Other Results of the War. By a treaty of peace 
(1848) we obtained the territoiy of California and New Mexico, 
with undisputed possession of Texas — or in all, nearly a mil- 
lion of square miles.^ (Map, p. 332.) It was our fifth step in 
national expansion (§ 289). 

A few years later (1853) we bought from Mexico a strip of 
land now included in southern Arizona and New Mexico, and 
known as the " Gadsden Purchase." (Map, p. 332.) The Mexican 
War educated many of the American officers who fought in it, or 
were connected with it (such men as Grant, Lee, Sherman, and 
'* Stonewall " Jackson), for the battlefields of the Civil War. 

1 The Montezumas (mon-te-zu'mas) were the rulers of Mexico at the time of the Spanish 
conquest by Cortez (see § 19). The palace, which we called the " Halls of the Montezumas," 
was built by the Spanish successors of Cortez. 

2 General Grant says, in his " Personal Memoirs," I, 53, that he considered the Mexican 
War " one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation." The feel- 
ing against the war in New England found witty and able expression in Lowell's famous 
poems of the " Biglow Papers" (First Series). 

8 We, however, paid Mexico ^15,000,000 for the territory, besides assuming certain 
debts of hers, amounting to about ^3,000,000 more. We had previously assumed the debt 
of Texas, of ^7,500,000 ; so that the whole cost of the entire territory, exclusive of the ex- 
pense of the war, was ^25,500,000. This was thought to be an enormous outlay, and, as it 
had been incurred through the annexation of Texas, many people grumbled, and said that 
" Texas " was simply " Taxes," with the letters differently arranged. To-day the assessed 
valuation of Texas alone is much more than forty times greater than the cost of the 
whole Mexican land cession. 



256 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1848 



295. Discovery of Gold in California, 1848. At the close of the 
Mexican War Colonel Mason was left in charge of California as 

military governor, and William 
T. Sherman — later General 
Sherman — acted as one of his 
chief officers. In the spring of 
1848 two men called on the 
governor, at Monterey, south of 
San Francisco. Presently Colo- 
nel Mason called to Sherman 
to come into his office. On the 
table were several little papers 
containing small bits of yellow- 
ish metal. '' What is that ? " 
said the governor to Sherman. 
" I touched it," adds the gen- 
eral, '' examined one or two of 
the large pieces, and asked, ' Is 
it £-o/d f " ^ It 2aas gold . Some 
men had found it in digging a mill race for a sawmill for Captain 
Sutter, near Coloma, on a fork of the American River about a hundred 
miles northeast of San Francisco. 
San Francisco was then a little vil- 
lage of about 400 inhabitants. When 
the news of the " great find " was 
spread abroad, nearly every person 
started for the mines. Houses were left 
half built; fields, half plowed. Every 
man who could possibly get away 
bought a shovel and hurried off to dig 
his fortune out of the golden sands 




Discovery of Gold 




296. Emigration to California; the '^Vigilance Committee"; 
Results of the Discovery of Gold. The next spring (1849) the 
' ' gold fever ' ' reached the eastern states, and a 



great rush of 



1 " Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman," I, 40. Gold was first discovered, January 24, 
1848 ; see Bancroft's " California." 



1849] RESULTS OF THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD 257 

emigration, by both land and sea, began for California. Many died 
of sickness contracted in crossing the Isthmus of Panama ; multi- 
tudes more perished on the overland route across the continent. 
From the Rocky Mountains to the Sierras the track of the emi- 
grants was marked by the skeletons of horses and oxen, and by 
barrels, boxes, and household goods thrown away along the road. 
But notwithstanding the loss of life, and the fact that many turned 
back, discouraged at the hardships of the undertaking, still over 
80,000 men succeeded in reaching California before the end of 
that year. 

From an insignificant settlement San F^rancisco suddenly sprang 
into a city of 20,000 inhabitants. To-day it has a population of 
over 400,000. But the great majority of the emigrants hurried 
off to the gold diggings, where, with pan and shovel, ^ they were 
speedily engaged in collecting the shining particles of that precious 
metal which most men find it so hard to get, and also so hard to 
hold. In the course of the next seven years (i 849-1 856) gold 
valued at over ^400,000,000 was obtained. The labor of getting 
it Was worth three times more than the gold itself.^ A few gained 
the riches they so eagerly sought, but the greater part barely made 
a living by the most exhausting toil. 

Eagerness for wealth naturally brought bad men as well as 
good to this land of promise. At times these reckless adven- 
turers made serious trouble. The stern hand of a Vigilance 
Committee, organized by a majority of the best citizens of San 
Francisco, speedily taught desperadoes and thieves that life and 
property must be respected. 

In the end the discovery of gold had many good results.^ 

I. It gave us firm possession of the Pacific coast, since it rapidly 
settled the wilderness of California with a population of energetic 
and determined men. 

1 At first, much of the gold was taken from the beds of small streams and their vicinity. 
It was done by sifting out the sand, or washing the earth, in pans or otherwise. When the 
surface mining gave out, men began to cut down the hills by directing powerful streams 
of water against them, and then washing the gravel and dirt for gold. Most of the gold 
now obtained in California is from quartz rock, which is broken to pieces by stamp- 
ing mills. 

2 Bancroft's " Pacific States," Vol. XVIII. 3 But compare § 312. 



258 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1849 

2. By increasing the amount of gold in circulation it stimu- 
lated trade, industry, and commerce not only throughout the 
United States but throughout the civilized world. New lines of 
steamships were started, new lines of railways built, new markets 
opened for goods and produce, new mills and factories established. 

3. When the precious metal in the sands began to give out, 
men found the real, inexhaustible wealth of the country in its 
fields, of grain, its vineyards, its orange plantations, its sheep 
and cattle farms. These make California a true land of gold, and 
of gold which is forever growing. 

297. Summary. James K. Polk's presidency opened with our 
getting possession of Oregon. The Mexican War followed, re- 
sulting in our obtaining California and New Mexico ; the latter 
then included Nevada, Utah, with parts of Colorado and Wyo- 
ming. (Map, p. 332.) The period closed with the discovery of 
gold, and with an immense emigration to California. 

Zachary Taylor (Whig); Millard Fillmore (Whig) 

298. Taylor and Fillmore's Administrations (Twelfth and Thir- 
teenth Presidents, One Term, 1849-1853) ; the Question of the 
Extension of Slavery. When General Taylor ^ became President 
the North and the South were already engaged in fierce dispute 
in regard to the territory gained through the Mexican War. 
Florida had been admitted (1845) as a slave state, and Texas 
followed (1845). It was the last slave state that entered the 
Union ; next. Congress was called on to determine whether Cali- 
fornia and New Mexico should be permitted to hold slaves. 

This question of the spread of slavery had now come to be of 
greater importance and of greater danger to the country than any 

1 General Taylor was bom in Virginia, 1784. A few years later his father removed with 
his family to Louisville, Kentucky. Taylor entered the regular army in 1808. In 1840 he 
bought a plantation, and settled at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His career in Mexico has 
already been traced. He was elected President by the Whigs, over Lewis Cass, the Demo- 
cratic candidate, and Martin Van Buren, the Free-Soil candidate. President Taylor died 
July 9, 1850, and was succeeded by Vice President Millard Fillmore. General Taylor owned 
a large number of slaves ; but in political action he belonged to no party and did not favor 
the extension of slavery to new territory. He was a brave, true, and conscientious man. 



1850] THE DANGER OF DISUNION 259 

other. It acted like a wedge, gradually forcing the North and 
the South farther and farther apart. At the North the laborer 
was free ; whatever he earned was his own. At the South he 
was not free ; what he earned was his master's. The North 
with free labor had steadily increased in population and wealth ; 
the South with slave labor had made but little real progress. 
Most people at the North now considered slavery a positive evil ; 
but a strong party at the South, led by Calhoun, held that it was 
a positive good. 

This difference in belief led to the struggle about the new 
territory. The South felt that it was only by getting new slave 
states — thereby increasing the number of its senators and repre- 
sentatives — that it could maintain its power in Congress. The 
Southern 'leaders believed that if they lost that power their system 
of slave labor would be destroyed, their negroes would be set free 
and would get the control of that part of the country. 

299. The^^Wilmot Proviso'*; Dispute about Slavery; the Dan- 
ger of Disunion; the Compromise of 1850; the Fugitive -Slave 
Law. Before the Mexican War had come to an end, David Wil- 
mot, a Pennsylvania Democrat, startled the country by proposing 
the passage of a law called the '' Wilmot Proviso." It declared 
that slavery should never be permitted to exist in any part of 
the territory which we might obtain from Mexico. The '' Wilmot 
Proviso " passed the House of Representatives by a large majority, 
but it did not pass the Senate. The discussion of this measure 
roused angry passions in both the North and the South. 

After the Mexican War was over the dispute about opening to 
slavery the new territory we had acquired (§ 294) grew hotter and 
hotter. Three methods of settlement were proposed. 

1. The extreme Southern men said, "Every citizen of the 
United States has the right to go to any part of the country he 
pleases, and take his property, including his negroes, with him. 
Give us, said they, that right, and we ask no more." 

2. But the advocates of the '' Wilmot Proviso " and other Free- 
Soil men answered : '' We will have no more slave states. All 
territory must come in freCo" 



26o LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1850 

3. Finally, a third class said : Congress has no right to meddle 
in this matter, one way or the other. What we want is '* Popular 
Sovereignty " — that is, let the people of the territories decide for 
themselves between freedom and slavery. 

None of these methods satisfied both sections of the country, 
but unless some agreement could be reached the Union might be 
broken up. In that case we should split into a Northern and a 
Southern Republic. At this time of peril Henry Clay, '.'the 
peacemaker," came forward in Congress, in 1850, with this com- 
promise, or plan of settlement (§§243, 269). 

1 . Let California come in as a free state ; at the same time 
let the slave trade (though not slavery itself) be abolished in the 
District of Columbia (§ 264). 

2. In all the rest of the territory obtained from Mexico let us 
have "Popular Sovereignty" — in other words, let the people deter- 
mine for themselves whether they will have free labor or slave labor. 

3. Let us have a new Fugitive- Slave Law (page 174, note) which 
shall arrest all runaway slaves found at the North, and, without 
trial by jury, return them to their masters. 

It will be seen that Clay's first proposition was calculated to 
please the Anti-Slavery party in the North and get their votes in 
Congress. His second proposition was arranged so that it would 
please the advocates of " Popular Sovereignty " in the territories, 
while his third proposition would be sure to gratify the slaveholders 
in the South, and so secure their votes. In this way all parties 
would find something in Clay's Compromise measures which they 
would like. 

Daniel Webster (§268) employed his eloquence to get Congress 
to vote for these compromise measures, including the new Fugitive- 
Slave Law ; 1 for he believed that if it was rejected, the Union 
would be destroyed. Many people at the North denounced him, 
as John Quincy Adams once did, as " a heartless traitor to the cause 
of human freedom " ; but Horace Greeley, a strong Abolitionist, 

1 Mr. Webster, however, wished to have this law modified so as to secure trial by jury to 
negroes arrested as fugitives, in case they denied that they were runaway slaves. His efforts 
to secure this change were unsuccessful, for the South insisted that no Northern jury would 
ever return a negro. See Curtis' " Life of Webster," II, 422, 423. 



1850-] ** UNDERGROUND RAILROAD** 261 

declared that the great majority, both North and South, agreed 
with Mr. Webster.i 

300. Passage of the Fugitive-Slave Law; its Results; the 
"Higher Law*'; the " Underground Railroad.'' During the de- 
bate on the Fugitive-Slave Law President Taylor died, and was 
succeeded by Vice President Fillmore. The law, with the other 
compromise measures, passed in the autumn of 1850, California 
was admitted as a free state, and it was hoped that peace was 
secured. But it was a peace, like a smoldering fire, ready to burst 
into flame at any moment. (Map, p. 270.) 

As soon as the slave owners of the South attempted to enforce 
the new law and arrest their runaway negroes at the North, trouble 
began. Many men who had never disobeyed an act of Congress 
refused to send back the South's fugitive slaves. They said, with 
Senator Seward, '' On this point we feel that there is a ' Higher 
Law' than that of Congress, — a divine law of justice and free- 
dom, — which forbids us to give the help demanded." 

This new spirit of resistance showed itself not only in words 
but in actions. In Boston a fugitive named Shadrach was taken 
from the officers and carried off to a place of safety ; and in Syra- 
cuse, New York, one named Jerry received his liberty in the same 
way. Several Northern states now passed laws to protect negroes 
and prevent their being sent back to slavery. Many persons, out 
of pity for the escaped slaves, banded themselves together to help 
them privately to get to Canada. This method got the name of 
the '' Underground Railroad " ; and hundreds, if not thousands, 
of trembling fugitives owed their liberty to the quickness and 
secrecy of this peculiar system of travel. 

301. ** Uncle Tom's Cabin"; Charles Sumner and Jefferson 
Davis. This feeling of opposition was suddenly intensified through- 
out the North by the publication {1852) of Mrs. Stowe's ''Uncle 
Tom's Cabin." It was a remarkable book — one written from the 
heart to the heart. It meant to be truthful, to be fair, to be kind. 

Mrs. Stowe's object was to show what the life of the slave really 
was, — to show its bright and happy side, as well as its dark and 

1 See Horace Greeley's "American Conflict," I, 220, 221. 



262 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [i852- 

cruel side. People who took up the book could not lay it down 
until they had finished it. They laughed and cried, and laughed 
again, over " Topsy," '' Eva," and '' Uncle Tom " ; but they ended 
with tears in their eyes. No arguments, no denials, could shake the 
influence of the story. In a single year two hundred thousand 
copies were sold in this country, and in a short time the total sales 
here had reached half a million copies. 

From this time onward a silent revolution was going on. The 
forces for slavery and those against it were girding themselves up 
for the terrible struggle. The great leaders of the nation on both 
sides — Clay, Webster, Calhoun — had recently died. New men 
were taking their places in Congress, — Charles Sumner represent- 
ing the North, Jefferson Davis, the South. In the battles which 
these two men fought in words we have the beginning of that con- 
test which was soon to end in civil war. Both felt that the time 
was very soon coming when the republic must stand wholly free 
or wholly on the side of slavery. 

302. Summary. The four chief events of the Taylor and Fill- 
more administrations were : (i) the debate on the extension of 
slavery in the new territory gained by the Mexican War ; (2) the 
Compromise Measures of 1850, including the Fugitive- Slave Law ; 
(3) the publication of '' Uncle Tom's Cabin " ; and (4) the begin- 
ning of the great final struggle in Congress between the North and 
the South. 

Franklin Pierce (Democrat) 

303. Piercers Administration (Fourteenth President, One Term, 
1853-1857); the "World's Fair'* at New York City; American 
Labor-Saving Machines. The inauguration of President Pierce ^ 
occurred at a time when a majority of the people were tired of 
hearing about slavery. It was a period of great business prosperity ; 

1 Franklin Pierce was bom in New Hampshire in 1804 ; died, 1869. He was in Congress 
from 1837-1842, and was a brigadier general in the Mexican War. He was elected President 
(William R. King of Alabama, Vice President) by the Democrats, over General Scott, the 
Whig candidate. The Whig party had practically ceased to exist before the next presidential 
election, in 1856. The Free Boilers humorously declared that it died "of an attempt to 
swallow the Fugitive-Slave Law " (which the Whig National Convention had accepted in 
1852). In 1852 a new political party called the American Party, or " Know Nothings," came 



1853] 



AMERICAN LABOR-SAVING MACHINES 



263 



almost everybody seemed to be making money, and some news- 
papers called it the ''golden age." In the summer (1853) the 
first American "World's Fair" was opened in New York City, 
in the '' Crystal Palace." 

The exhibition proved that no country in the world could equal 
our own in labor-saving machines. Four of the most remarkable 



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A Twentieth-Century Electric Newspaper Printing Press 
(With cut of Franklin's press for comparison) 

of these were the newly invented sewing machines which were 
then beginning to come into general use ; next, the horse reapers 
and mowers, and finally an improved steam printing press, which 
could send out a continuous stream of four-page newspapers at the 
rate of over 200 a minute. That was thought extraordinary speed 

into existence. They had a secret organization, and their object was to exclude all but native 
American citizens from office, to check the power of Catholicism, and to oppose the admis- 
sion of foreigners to citizenship except after very long residence here. Their motto was, 
" Americans must rule America." The " Know Nothings " became a national party, exerted 
considerable influence for a few years, and then died out 



264 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1853 



then, but now we have presses, driven by electricity, which can 
print 1600 sixteen-page sheets a minute, or nearly 100,000 an 
hour. This makes a roll of paper seventy miles long. 

The horse reapers and mowers for cutting grain and grass 
(1845) showed the immense advance we had made over the slow 
work formerly done by hand with sickle and scythe. The French 
Academy of Sciences declared that the American inventor of the 
horse reaper had '' done more for the cause of agriculture than 
any man living." The effect on the settlement of the West was 
wonderful, for by using these machines the farmer could do as 
much work in a few hours as he had been able to do before in a 
whole week.i But these machines have since been superseded, on 
some of the immense farms at the West, by '' harvesters," which 
rTP, r—'^^^, _ -c- ^ cut the grain, thrash it, clean it, 
and put it up in bags in the field. 
These ''harvesters" sometimes re- 
quire more than thirty horses to 
draw them, or they are propelled 
by steam (§ 371). 

304* Commodore M. C. Perry- 
opens the Ports of Japan. Not 
long after the close of the Crystal Palace Exhibition, Commodore 
M. C. Perry, brother of the late Commodore O. H. Perry of Lake 
Erie fame (§ 229), sailed into one of the ports of Japan with the 
first fleet of steamers that had ever entered a harbor of that island. 
For over two centuries that country had been almost practically 
closed to the entire world. Through Perry's influence the govern- 
ment of Japan made a treaty with the United States admitting our 
ships to trade. We made the Emperor presents of a locomotive 

1 Obed Hussey patented his horse reaper in 1834 and Cyrus Hall McCormick patented 
his machine a few months later. Eventually these remarkable farming implements were 
improved so that they not only cut the grain in the field, but bound it up in sheaves. Speak- 
ing of one of these machines, WiUiam H.Seward, then in the United States Senate, said, 
in 1859, that it had pushed the line of civilization [in the United States] westward thirty 
miles each year. And Professor Alexander Johnston says that the results of the horse reaper 
" have been hardly less than that of the locomotive in their importance to the United States. 
... It was agricultural machinery that made Western farms profitable, and enabled the rail- 
ways to fill the West so rapidly." See also Coman's " Industrial History of the United 
States," p. 244. 




Two-Horse Reapers at Work 



1853-1854] THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT, 1854 



265 



with a train of cars, and a line of telegraph, — the first ever seen 
in that country, which has since adopted, through our influence, 
both steam and electricity. Later (1901), the Japanese erected a 
monument commemorating Commodore Perry's work. It stands 
in Perry Park, Kurihama, Japan, at which port the American 
officer first landed. 

305. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854 ; Rise of the Modern Re- 
publican Party, 1856. It will be remembered that the Missouri 
Compromise of 1820 shut out slavery from the territory west 
and north of Missouri (§ 243). At the time the Compromise was 
made it was solemnly declared that it would stand " forever." 
But the end of that "forever" was now reached. In 1853 a 




Perry landing in Japan 

movement began in Missouri to carry slavery into the Nebraska 
country west of it. In 1854 Senator Stephen A. Douglas of 
Illinois — the ''Little Giant," as his friends called him^ — pro- 
posed a law entitled the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. That bill cut the 
Nebraska country into two parts, of which the southern portion 
was called Kansas ; and it left the settlers of these two territories 
to decide whether they would have slave labor or not.^ Congress 

1 Senator Douglas was short in stature and stoutly built. His great intellectual ability 
and marked decision of character got for him the name of the " Little Giant." He died in 
1861, shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War. His dying message to his sons was his 
entreaty that they should stand by the Union and the Constitution. 

2 Senator Douglas claimed that in giving the people of Kansas and Nebraska the power 
of choosing whether they would have slave labor or not, he was simply extending that part of 
Clay's Compromise measure of 1850 (§ 299) which gave the same privilege to the people of 
the territories of New Mexico and Utah. (See Map, p. 270). 



266 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1854-1856 

passed the bill, and thus repealed or set aside the Missouri Com- 
promise or agreement made in 1820 (§ 243). The North was 
indignant at the new law. Senator Douglas was hooted in the 
streets. Mass meetings were held to denounce him, and so many 
images of him were made and burned that Mr. Douglas him- 
self said that he traveled from Washington to Chicago by the 
light of his own blazing effigies. 

One of the most important results of the controversy over the 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill was that it led to the formation in 1856 of 
a new political party. Those who opposed the repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise and the extension of slavery in the West now 
united and took the name of Republicans (§ 203). 

306. The Struggle for the Possession of Kansas; Emigrants 
from Missouri and from New England. A desperate struggle 
(1854) began between the North and the South for the possession 
of Kansas.^ Bands of slaveholders armed with rifles crossed the 
Missouri River and seized lands in the new territory. They settled 
a town which they named Atchison in honor of Senator Atchison 
of Missouri. 

Next, the New England Aid Society of Boston sent out a body 
of armed emigrants, singing, 

" We cross the prairies, as of old 
The Pilgrims crossed the sea, 
To make the West, as they the East, 
The Homestead of the free. "2 

They settled about forty miles to the southwest of Atchison. They 
called their little cluster of tents and log cabins Lawrence, because 
Amos A.. Lawrence was treasurer of the society, which was estab- 
lished to aid Northern men to ' buijd homes in Kansas, and to 
make the territory a free state. 

307. The Rival Governments of Kansas ; Civil War in the Ter- 
ritory. The rival bands of settlers soon set up governments to 
suit themselves. The '' Free-state men " made their headquarters 

1 In speaking of this coming struggle, Honorable William H. Seward of New York said, 
in the United States Senate, 1854 : " Come on, then, gentlemen of the slave states ; since 
there is no escaping your challenge, I accept it on behalf of Freedom. We will engage in 
competition for the virgin soil of Kansas, and God give the victory to the side that is stronger 
in numbers as it is in right." 2 See Whittier's " The Song of the Kansas Emigrant." 



1866-] 



CIVIL WAR IN KANSAS 



267 



at Topeka and Lawrence ; the " Slave-state men " made theirs 
at Leavenworth and Lecompton. 

During the next five years (i 854-1859) the territory was torn 
by civil war, and fairly earned the title of '' Bleeding Kan- 
sas." The *' Free-state men " denounced the opposite party as 
*' Border Ruffians " ; the '' Slave-state men " called the '' Free-state 
men " ''Abolitionists " and "Black 
Republicans." 

308. Attack on Lawrence ; John 
Brown ; Assault on Charles Sum- 
ner. In the course of this period 
of violence and bloodshed the 
"Slave-state men " attacked Law- 
rence, plundered the town, and 
burned some of its chief buildings. 
This roused the spirit of vengeance m 
the heart of " Old John Brown " of 
Osawatomie.^ He was a descendant of 
one of the Pilgrims who came over in the 
Mayflower (§73), and he had made a 
solemn vow to " kill American slavery." 
In return for the attack on Lawrence, 
Brown got together a small band, sur- 
prised a little settlement of Slave-state 
men on Pottawatomie Creek, dragged five of them from their 
beds, and deliberately murdered them. Later, Brown crossed 
into Missouri, destroyed considerable property, freed eleven slaves, 
and shot one of the slave owners. In the end, the " Free-state 
men " won the victory, and Kansas, following the example of 

1 John Brown, bom in Torrington, Connecticut, 1800, was executed at Charlestown, Vir- 
ginia (now West Virginia), December 2, 1859, fc>r having attempted by armed force to liberate 
slaves in that state. He was a descendant of Peter Brown, who came over in the May- 
flower in 1620. When a boy he chanced to see a slave boy cruelly beaten by his master, and 
he then and there vowed (so he says) "eternal war with slavery." In 1848 he purchased a 
farm in North Elba, New York, but spent a great deal of his time in aiding runaway slaves 
to get to Canada. He went out to Osawatomie, Kansas, in 1855, to take part in making that 
territory a free state, and also, as he says, to strike a blow at slavery. Brown's party declared 
that they perpetrated the " Pottawatomie Massacre " in return for the assassination of five 
" Free-state men " by the opposite party. 




Emigrants on their Way 
TO Kansas 



268 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1856-1857 

Minnesota and Oregon (1858-18 59), entered the Union without 
slavery (1861). 

During the heated debate in Congress over the Kansas troubles, 
Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts made a speech denounc- 
ing slavery, and alluding to Senator Butler of South Carolina in 
a way that stung the latter's friends to madness. Representative 
Brooks, a kinsman of Butier's, considered the speech an insult ; 
he brutally assaulted Sumner, and beat him so severely over the 
head with a heavy cane that he was obliged to give up his seat in 
Congress for nearly four years. In less than a year from his return 
(1859) South Carolina seceded from the Union. 

309. Summary. The chief events of Pierce's administration 
were: (i) the ''World's Fair" exhibition; (2) Commodore Perry's 
treaty with Japan, opening that country to trade with the United 
States ; (3) the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, repealing the 
Missouri Compromise ; (4) the foundation of the modern Repub- 
lican party ; and (5) the struggle of the North and the South for 
the possession of Kansas. 



James Buchanan (Democrat) 

310. Buchanan's Administration (Fifteenth President, One 
Term, 1857-1861) ; the Case of Dred Scott. Two days after 
President Buchanan's ^ inauguration Chief Justice Taney gave the 
decision of the United States Supreme Court in a case of great 
importance, known as the ''Dred Scott Case." Scott was a negro 
slave and the son of slave parents. His master had taken him 
(1834) from the slave state of Missouri to the free state of Illinois, 
where he stayed two years. He then took him to what is now 
Minnesota, a part of the country in which Congress had prohibited 
slavery by the Missouri Compromise (§§243, 305). Finally, he 
carried Scott back to Missouri. 

1 James Buchanan was bom in Pennsylvania, 1791 ; died, 1868. He wtis elected to Con- 
gress in 1820; later, to the United States Senate; was minister to Russia; Secretary of 
State under Polk; and in 1853 minister to England. He was elected President (John C. 
Breckenridge of Kentucky, Vice President) by the Democrats, over John C. Fremont, the 
Republican candidate, and Millard Fillmore, the American, or " Know Nothing," candidate. 



1857] DECISION IN THE DRED SCOTT CASE 269 

There he sold him to .a new master ; but the negro demanded 
his Uberty on the ground that since he had Hved for a considerable 
time on free soil he had therefore become a free man. 

311. Decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Died 
Scott Case, 1857 ; Results at the North. The case was carried to 
the United States Supreme Court. In 1857 that court ^ decided: 

1 . That a negro (whether bond or free), who was a descendant 
of slave ancestors, was not an American citizen. 

2. That therefore he could not sue (even for his liberty) in the 
United States courts. 

3. It furthermore decided that Scott had not gained his freedom 
by going into a free state, or into a territory where Congress had 
prohibited slavery by the Missouri Compromise (§§ 243, 305), since 
Congress had no rightful power to make such a law. (Map, p. 270.) 

Chief Justice Taney had shown himself a friend to the black 
man, for he had voluntarily freed his own slaves. But when he 
gave the decision of the court he took occasion to say that when 
the Constitution was adopted negroes '' had no rights which the 
white man was bound to respect." Finally, he declared that Scott's 
master could lawfully take his slaves into any territory, just as he 
could his horses and his cattle. 

This decision by the highest court in the United States stirred 
the North like an electric shock. The people of that section be- 
lieved that it practically threw open to slavery not only the terri- 
tories but even the free states .^ The result was that many people 
determined that the law should not be carried out.^ This, of course, 
angered the South, and greatly increased the bad feeling between 
the two sections. 

312. The Business Panic (1857). While men were excitedly dis- 
cussing the Dred Scott decision, and while the danger of disunion 
was growing more and more threatening, a heavy business failure 

1 Judge McLean and Judge Curtis did not agree with the other seven judges. 

2 That is, that the free states could not prevent a slaveholder from bringing his 
slaves with him (as Scott's master had done), and staying at least two years with them on 
free soil, 

3 The Northern people believed that under the Constitution slaves could only be held 
in those states which protected slavery by their laws, and that if a master took his negroes 
into a state whose laws forbade slavery, he could not hold them in bondage there. 




^^o 



18S7- 



SILVER, PETROLEUM, AND NATURAL GAS 271 



occurred in Cincinnati. This brought down other business houses, 
just as when a large building falls the smaller ones whose walls 
rest against it often fall with it. The panic of 1837 (§ 275) was 
now repeated. Nearly all the banks in the country failed, many 
railways could not pay their debts, thousands of merchants and 
manufacturers were ruined, and it seemed at one time as though 
the rich must become poor, and the poor must become beggars. 

The chief causes of this trouble were to be found in the results 
of the discovery of gold in California (§295). The wealth which 
poured in from the mines had stimulated men to overdo all kinds 
of business, more lines of railway had been built 
in the West than the population demanded, 
many manufacturers had made greater quantities 
of goods than they could sell, and many mer- 
chants had bought more than they could pay 
for. The country was like 
a man who had worked be- 
yond his strength — it had 
to stop and take a rest. 

313. Discovery of Silver 
in Nevada and Colorado, and 
of Petroleum and Natural 
Gas in Pennsylvania. But 
less than two years after the 
panic some of the richest 
silver mines ever discovered 
on the globe were found in the mountain region of western 
Nevada (1859). The two chief of these, known as the " Bonanza " 
mines, sent out many millions of dollars' worth of ore cast in the 
form of '' silver bricks." When, in the course of time, the Bonanza 
mines were practically worked out, new mines were found (1877) 
in Leadville and other parts of Colorado and in Utah, which sent 
out a fresh supply of the precious metal. 

The same year (1859) E. L. Drake bored the first successful 
oil well on Oil Creek, near Titusville, in northwestern Pennsyl- 
vania. Since then petroleum has flowed, or is pumped, from the 




Drake's Oil Well 



2/2 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



wells opened in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Texas, southern New 
York, and the Far West. The average yield of these wells has 
often been more than a hundred thousand barrels of oil a day. 
Lines of iron pipes, laid underground, now carry the oil over 
hills, across rivers, through forests and farms, to Chicago, Buffalo, 
Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and other points on the Great 
Lakes, the seacoast, and elsewhere. The largest stream of oil has 
a total length (including main pipe lines and ''feeders") of not far 
from 75,000 miles ; it is about eighteen times the length of the 
Mississippi-Missouri, the longest river in America or in the world. 




Harpers Ferry in 1859 

The Standard Oil Company of Cleveland, Ohio, secured practical 
control of the chief part of the business (1877). Petroleum is used 
not only for giving light, but for heating purposes and for driving 
motor cars and machinery. 

About fifteen years after the discovery of petroleum in Pennsyl- 
vania natural gas was found issuing from the rocks in the same 
region, and later in Ohio, Indiana, and other parts of the West. 
This gas, which is largely used, at one time took the place of oil 
and coal in Pittsburg, Indianapolis, and vicinity, for lighting streets 
and houses, for cooking, and for fuel in manufacturing. 



1859-1860] THE ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 273 

314. John Brown's Raid. But while the excitement over the 
discovery of petroleum was spreading, and men were getting rich 
by '' striking oil," a strange event startled the whole country. 
'' John Brown of Osawatomie " (§ 308) made a raid into Virginia, 
seized the government buildings at Harpers Ferry, and attempted 
to liberate the slaves in that vicinity (October 17, 1859). John 
Brown's whole band consisted of only about twenty men, partly 
whites and partly negroes. After hard fighting he was captured, 
with six of his companions, and hanged at Charlestown, Virginia 
(now West Virginia) (December 2, 1859). On the day of his 
execution he handed this paper to one of his guards: ''I, John 
Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land 
will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now 
think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed 
it might be done."^ 

Within a year and a half from the day of his death the North 
and the South were at war with each other, and a Northern regi- 
ment on its way to the contest was singing, 

"John Brown's body lies a-moldering in the grave, 
But his soul is marching on." 

315. The Election of Abraham Lincoln; Secession of South 
Carolina, i860. In November, i860, Abraham Lincoln ^ of Illi- 
nois was elected by the Republican party President of the United 

1 Governor Wise of Virginia said of John Brown, " He inspired me with great trust in 
his integrity as a man of truth." The Governor also said : " They are mistaken who take 
Brown for a madman. He is a bundle of the best nerves I ever saw . . . cool, collected, 
indomitable." In his last speech at his trial, John Brown declared that his only object had 
been to liberate the slaves, and that he did not intend to commit murder or treason or to 
destroy property. " I feel," said he, " no consciousness of guilt." 

2 Abraham Lincoln was bom in Hardin County, Kentucky, in 1809. His early life was 
spent in toil, hardship, and poverty ; but it was the independent poverty of the Western 
wilderness, and it made men of those who fought their way out of it. 

When the boy was only eight years old he had learned to swing an ax. From that time 
until he came of age he literally chopped and hewed his way forward and upward. He 
learned to read from two books — the spelling book and the Bible ; then he borrowed " Pil- 
grim's Progress " and ^sop's Fables, and would sit up half the night reading them " by 
the blaze of the logs his own ax had split." 

In 1816 the Lincoln family moved to Spencer County, Indiana; and in 1830, to Decatur, 
Illinois. On this last occasion young Lincoln walked the entire distance, nearly two hundred 
miles, through mud and water, driving a four-ox team. The journey took fifteen days, for 
even two yoke of oxen do not move quite as fast as steam. When they reached their 



274 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [i860 

States, then a nation of over 30,000,000. That party, though it 
denounced John Brown's attempt (§314) as '' lawless and unjustifi- 
able," pledged itself to shut out slavery from the territories. 

The people of South Carolina believed that the election of Mr. 
Lincoln meant that the great majority of the North was determined 
to bring about the liberation of the negroes. That was a great mis- 
take ; but the Carolinians could not then be convinced to the con- 
trary. They furthermore saw that they could no longer hope to 
maintain the power they once possessed in Congress, for the free 
states now had six more senators and fifty-seven more representa- 
tives than the slave states had.^ 

On December 20, i860, a convention met in " Secession Hall," 
in Charleston, and unanimously voted "that the union now sub- 
sisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name 
of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved." Those who 
thus voted said that it was no hasty resolution on their part, but 

destination, in what was then an almost unsettled country, the father and son set to work to 
build the log cabin which was to be their home ; and when that was finished, young Lincoln 
split the rails to fence in their farm of ten acres. 

Such work was play to him. He was now twenty-one ; he stood six feet three and a half 
inches, barefooted ; he was in perfect health ; could outrun, outjump, outwrestle, and, if 
necessary^ outfight any one of his age in that part of the country, and " his grip was like the 
grip of Hercules." Without this rugged strength he could never have endured the strain 
that the nation later put upon him. 

In 1834 he resolved to begin the study of law. A friend in Springfield offered to lend 
him some books ; Lincoln walked there, twenty-two miles from New Salem (where he then 
lived), and, it is said, brought back with him four heavy volumes of Blackstone, at the end 
of the same day. 

A few years later he opened a law office in Springfield. In 1846 "Honest Abe," as his 
neighbors and friends called him, was elected to Congress ; and in i860, to the presidency 
of the United States, by the Republican party (Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Vice President). 
The Democratic party had split into a Northern and a Southern party. The former had 
nominated Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, and the latter John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky. 
The former American (or " Know Nothing ") party, which now called itself the " Constitu- 
tional Union Party," had nominated John Bell of Tennessee. Lincoln received nearly half 
a million more votes than Douglas, and more than a million in excess of those cast for either 
of the other candidates. 

1 In 1790, just after the foundation of the government, the free states (that is, the northern 
states ; they had comparatively few slaves) had 14 senators and 35 representatives in Con- 
gress ; the slave states, 12 senators and 30 representatives. From 1796 to 1812, inclusive, 
the free states and the slave states had an equal number in the Senate, but the free states 
had a majority in the House. After 1848 the free states had a majority in both Senate and 
House, and in the latter this majority was constantly increasing. That fact meant that the 
South had lost its political power, partly because slavery had failed to get a foothold in the 
Far West, but mainly because the North had outgrown the South in population. 




275 



276 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1860-1861 



that it had been under consideration for many years. The declara- 
tion of secession was welcomed in the streets of Charleston with 
the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells. The citizens believed 
that they had broken up the Union, and that South Carolina had 

now, as its governor said, become 
a '' free and independent state." 
316. Secession of Six Other 
Southern States; Formation of 
the * * Confederate States of Amer- 
^^ ica." By the first of February 
(186 1) the states of Georgia, 
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, 
Louisiana, and Texas — mak- 
ing seven in all — had likewise 
withdrawn from the Union. A 
seceding senator rashly declared 
that they had left the national 
government '' a corpse lying in 
state in Washington." Dele- 
gates from these states met at 
Montgomery, Alabama. They 
framed a government (1861) and took the name of the ''Confed- 
erate States of America," with Montgomery as the capital ; then 
they elected Jefferson Davis ^ of Mississippi, President of the Con- 
federacy, and Alexander H. Stephens ^ of Georgia, Vice President. 

1 Jefferson Davis was bom in Kentucky in 1808 ; died, 1889. He graduated at West 
Point Military Academy in 1828. In 1845 he was elected to Congress by the Democrats 
in Mississippi, of which state he had become a resident. He served with distinction in the 
Mexican War. In 1847 he entered the United States Senate, where, like Calhoun, he advo- 
cated " State Sovereignty " (§ 269) and the extension of slavery. President Pierce made 
him Secretary of War, He was United States senator under Buchanan. His state (Missis- 
sippi) seceded on January 9, 1861. Mr. Davis kept his seat in the Senate until January 21, 
and then, with a speech asserting the right of secession, he withdrew to join the Southern 
Confederacy. 

2 Alexander H. Stephens was bom in Georgia in 1812 ; died, 1883. He was in Congress 
as a representative of the Whigs from 1843 to 1859. He afterwards joined the Democrats. 
He at first opposed secession, and said that it was " the height of madness, folly, and wicked- 
ness " ; but when Georgia seceded, he decided that it was his duty to stand by his state. 
After the Civil War he again entered Congress, and in 1882 he was elected governor of 
Georgia. He was a man who had the entire respect of those who knew him. 




Boyhood OF Lincoln 



1860-1861] WHY THE SOUTH SECEDED 277 

The Confederate States now cast aside the Stars and Stripes, and 
hoisted a new flag, the Stars and Bars, in its place. 

317. Why the South seceded; Seizure of National Property; 
the Star of the West fired on. What took these seven states — 
soon to be followed by four more — out of the Union ? The 
answer is, It was first their conviction that slavery would thrive 
better by being separated from the influence of the North ; and, 
secondly, it was their belief in '' State Rights," or, better, '' State 
Sovereignty " (§ 269), upheld by South Carolina as far back as 
Jackson's presidency. According to that idea, any state was justi- 
fied in separating itself from the United States whenever it became 
convinced that it was for its interest to withdraw. 

In this act of secession many of the people of the South took 
no direct part, — a large number being, in fact, utterly opposed 
to it, — but the political leaders were fully determined on separa- 
tion. Their aim was to establish a great slaveholding republic of 
which they should be head.^ 

President Buchanan made no attempt to prevent the states from 
seceding ; part of his cabinet were Southern men, who were in full 
sympathy with the Southern leaders, and the President did not see 
how to act. 

The seceded states seized the forts, arsenals, and other national 
property within their limits, so far as they could do so. Fort 
Sumter, commanded by Major Anderson of the United States 
army, in Charleston harbor, was one of the few where the Stars and 
Stripes remained flying. President Buchanan had made an effort 
to send men and supplies to Major Anderson by the merchant 
steamer Star of the West (January 9, 1861) ; but the people of 
Charleston fired upon the steamer, and compelled her to go back. 

1 Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy, said, in a speech at Savannah, 
March 21, 1861 : "The prevaiHng idea entertained by him [Jefferson] and most of the lead- 
ing statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution [the Constitution of the 
United States] was that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature ; 
that it was wrong in principle — socially, morally, and politically. . . . Our new government 
[the Southern Confederacy] is founded upon exactly the opposite idea ; its foundations are 
laid, its comer stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man ; 
that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and normal condition." — 
McPherson's Political History of the Rebellion^ p. 103. 



if/S LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1861 

All eyes were now turned toward Abraham Lincoln. The great 
question was, What will he do when he becomes President ? 

318. General Summary from Washington to Buchanan (1789- 
1861) ; Growth of the West ; Secession. Looking back to the be- 
ginning of the presidency of Washington (1789), we see that over 
seventy years had elapsed since the formation of the Union. We 
then had a population of less than 4,000,000 ; at the outbreak of 
secession (i860) we had eight times that number, and much more 
than eight times the wealth possessed by us in 1789. Thus, from a 
small and poor nation we had grown to be great and prosperous. 
In 1789 our western boundary was the Mississippi, and there 
seemed no prospect that we should extend beyond it. Long be- 
fore 1 86 1 we had reached the 
Pacific. Our original 800,000 
square miles had increased to 
over 3,000,000 ; and the origi- 
nal thirteen states had added to 
themselves twenty-one more, be- 
sides immense territories. (Map, 

p. 284.) 
On the Way to Colorado j^ ^ ^g^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^.^.^^^ 

— New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Charleston, — 
and they were so small that they were hardly worthy of the name. 
By 1 86 1 five of these places had grown enormously in popula- 
tion and wealth ; furthermore, Brooklyn, Detroit, Cincinnati, and 
St. Louis had become large and flourishing cities, and we had 
added to them Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis,^ Indianapolis, Mil- 
waukee, New Orleans, Galveston, Kansas City, and Salt Lake City, 
besides Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco in the Far West ; all 
but the last six were connected with one another by railways and 
lines of telegraph. 

In fact, the western and northwestern parts of the country had 
advanced ''by leaps and bounds," so that every year beheld it 

1 The eastern part of what is now Minneapolis was incorporated as a city, under the 
name of St. Anthony, in i860. The west side, named Minneapolis, was incorporated as a 
city in 1867 ; in 1872 the two were united under that name. 




1861] SECESSION 279 

coming more and more to the front. Emigrants, miners, and 
other pioneers of civilization were constantly pushing forward into 
the vast region beyond the Mississippi. There they were building 
the first rude shanties of settlements which were to become known 
as Omaha (1854) and Denver (1858), and they were laying the 
foundations of the twelve great states ^ which, with West Virginia, 
have since joined the Union. 

But between 1789 and 1861 there was this sad difference: 
Washington had found and left us a united people ; Buchanan, 
a divided people. Seven of our states had seceded ; four more 
would go. For many years we had been brothers ; now we were 
fast becoming enemies. Only let the word be spoken, and our 
swords would leap from their scabbards, and we would fly at each 
other's throats. 

What had brought about this deplorable change ? Time. Time 
had strengthened slavery at the South and freedom at the North. 
It was no longer possible for both to dwell together in peace under 
the same flag. Either the Union must be dissolved, or those who 
loved the Union must fight to save it ; and, before the war should 
end, must fight to make it wholly free. If freedom should triumph, 
then lasting peace would be restored ; for then the North and the 
South — no longer separated by slavery — would again become one 
great, prosperous, and united people. 

1 The twelve states are Kansas, Nevada, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, South 
Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Oklahoma. They entered the 
Union between January, 1861, and November, 1907. 



VIII 

" Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this con- 
tinent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition 
that all men are created equal. ... we here highly resolve . . . that this 
nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government 
of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 
— President Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg, November jg, i86j. 



THE CIVIL WARi 

(April, i86i— April, 1865) 
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN POWER 

Abraham Lincoln (Republican) and Andrew Johnson 
(War Democrat) 

319. Lincoln and Johnson's Administrations (Sixteenth and 
Seventeenth Presidents, Two Terms,^ 1861-1869) ; the President's 
Arrival at Washington; his Inaugural Address; his Intentions 
toward the Seceded States. President Lincoln's friends believed 
that it would not be safe for him to make the last part of his 
journey to Washington publicly ; and he therefore reached the 
national capital secretly by a special night train. 

1 Reference Books (the Civil War). W. Wilson's " Division and Reunion," ch. 
8-10 ; T. A. Dodge's "A Bird's-Eye View of Our Civil War " (revised edition) ; W. 
C. Bryant and Gay's "United States "(revised edition), IV, ch. 17-19; V, ch. 7-18 ; 
J. Schouler's "Civil War"; A. B. Hart's "American History by Contemporaries," 
IV, ch. 18-22 ; A. B. Hart's " Source Book," pp. 296-335 ; F. E. Chadwick's " Causes 
of the Civil War " ; J. K. Hosmer's " The Appeal to Arms " ; J. K. Hosmer's " Out- 
come of the Civil War." See also the classified List of Books in the Appendix. 

2 Abraham Lincoln (§315, note 2) was elected President by the Republican party 
(Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Vice President), in i860, over Douglas and Breckenridge, the 
two candidates of the Northern and the Southern Democrats, and Bell, the candidate of 
the " Constitutional Union " party. He was again elected by the Republicans in 1864 (Andrew 
Johnson of Tennessee, Vice President), over General George B. McClellan, the Democratic 
candidate. President Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865, one month and ten days after 
entering upon his second administration. Vice President Johnson then became President 

280 



1861-] 



THE FIRST GUN OF THE WAR 



281 



At his inauguration (March 4, 1861) he said: "I have no 
purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of 
slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right 
to do so ; and I have 
no inclination to do so." 
But the President also 
declared in the same 
speech that he held the 
Union to be perpetual, 
and that he should do 
his utmost to keep the 
oath he had just taken 
" to preserve, protect, 
and defend it" (§199). 
He furthermore declared 
that the government had 
no intention of begin- 
ning war against the se- 
ceded states, but would 




Charleston Harbor 

Showing Fort Sumter and the battery which fired on the 
Star of the West 



only use its power to retake the forts and other national property 
which had been seized by the Confederacy. 

At this time the general feeling throughout the northern states 
was a strong desire for peace and a willingness to assure the 
southern states that their constitutional right ^ to hold slaves 
should not be interfered with. 



First Year of the War (April, i 861— April, 1862) 

320. Major Anderson*s Condition at Fort Sumter; the First 
Gun of the War; Surrender of the Fort. Major Anderson now 
sent a message to the President, stating that he could not long 

for the remainder of the term. President Lincoln, on first entering office, chose William H. 
Seward, Secretary of State ; Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury ; Gideon Welles, 
Secretary of the Navy ; and Simon Cameron, Secretary of War (succeeded, January 15, 1862, 
by Edwin M. Stanton). During the Civil War they rendered services of inestimable value 
to the President and to the nation. 

1 See the Constitution (as it then stood), Article IV, Section 2, Paragraph 3, ^^ No person 
held to service^'' etc. 



282 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1861 

continue to hold Fort Sumter unless provisions were sent to 
him. His entire garrison, aside from some laborers, consisted of 
eighty-five officers and men ; the Confederate force in Charles- 
ton was about 7000. The government immediately made arrange- 
ments to send the needed supplies. As soon as Jefferson Davis 
heard of it, he ordered General Beauregard, in command of the 




Fort Sumter 

Confederate army at Charleston, to demand the surrender of 
the fort. 

Major Anderson declined to surrender, and at daybreak, April 
12, 1 86 1, the Confederates fired the first gun at the fort. It was 
answered by one from Sumter. War had begun. For thirty-four 
hours nineteen batteries rained shot and shell against the fort, 
which continued to fire back. Notwithstanding this tremendous 
cannonade, no one was killed on either side. But Major Ander- 
son, finding that his ammunition was nearly exhausted, and having 
nothing but pork to eat, decided to give up the fort. On Sunday 
(April 14) he, with his garrison, left the fort and embarked for 
New York ; he carried with him the shot-torn flag under which 
he and his men had fought (§ 358). 



1861] 



THE RISING OF THE NORTH 



283 




The Confederate Flag 
The Stars and Bars 



321. President Lincoln's Call for Volunteers; the Rising of the 
North. The next day (April 15, 1861) President Lincoln called 
for 75,000 volunteers for three months' service, for few then 
supposed that the war, if there was really to be a war, would last 
longer than that. In response to the Pres- 
ident's call the whole North seemed to 
rise. Men of all parties forgot their politi- 
cal quarrels, and hastened to the defense 
of the capital. The heart of the people 
stood by the Union, and by the old flag. 
^Within thirty-six hours several companies 
from Pennsylvania had reached Washing- 
ton. They were speedily followed by the 
Sixth Massachusetts Regiment — the first 
full regiment to march. They had to fight their way through a mob 
at Baltimore. There, on April 19, 1 86 1 , the day on which the Revo- 
lutionary battles of Lexington and Concord were fought, the first 
Union soldiers gave their lives for the preservation of the nation. 
Many oi the volunteers were lads under twenty, and some of 
them had never left home before. There were many affecting 

scenes when the '' boys in blue " ^ started 
for Washington. Anxious mothers took 
tearful leave of sons, whom they feared 
they should never see again. The peril 
of the republic touched men in all 
conditions of life as nothing ever had 
before. Farmers left their plows, me- 
The Shot-Torn Flag which chanics dropped their tools, clerks said 

farewell to their employers, college stu- 
dents threw down their books — all hur- 
ried to take their places in the ranks, and even lads of fifteen 
begged to go as drummer boys. 

On the Southern side there were the same anxious leave-takings ; 
for it should be borne in mind that while the people of the North 
were eager to offer their lives for the defense of the Union, the 

1 The Union soldiers wore blue uniforms ; the Confederates, gray. 




Anderson carried away 
FROM Fort Sumter 



284 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1861 

people of the South were just as eager to give theirs to repel 
what they considered invasion. 

322. Secession of Four More States; General Butler's "Contra- 
bands/* President Lincoln's call for troops made it necessary for 
the remaining slave states to decide at once whether they would 
remain in the Union or go out. Virginia ^ joined the Confederacy ; 
but the western part of the state had voted against secession, 
and later it became a separate state (1863) under the name of 
West Virginia. The Confederate capital was soon removed from 
Montgomery to Richmond (§ 316). Arkansas, Tennessee, and 
North Carolina followed the example of Virginia ; but Delaware, 
Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri did not secede. By the middle 
of June the Confederacy consisted of eleven states ; no more 
were added. 

General Butler of Massachusetts held command of Fort Mon- 
roe ^ in eastern Virginia. It was the only Union stronghold in the 
state, and was of the very highest importance. A number of slaves 
came to the general and begged him to set them free. He had 
no authority to give them their liberty. On the other hand, he 
was certain that if he returned these slaves to their masters they 
would use them in carrying on the war against the Union. Finally, 
General Butler got out of the difficulty by saying. These negroes 
are contraband of war^ ; then putting spades in the hands of the 
"contrabands," as they were henceforth called, he set them to work 
to strengthen the fort. General Butler's action was the first de- 
cided blow struck at the existence of slavery after the commence- 
ment of the war. 

323. Condition of the North and of the South with Respect to 
the War. In regard to the terrible struggle now about to begin 
between the North and the South, each of the combatants had 
certain advantages over the other. 

1 The secession of eastern Virginia immensely increased the military difficulties with 
which the North had to contend. Had Virginia remained in the Union (as she seemed at 
one time likely to do), the war would probably have been of short duration. 

2 Commonly called Fortress Monroe, but officially designated Fort Monroe. 

3 Contraband of war : here meaning, forfeited by the customs or laws of war. General 
Butler's idea was that the laws of war forbade his returning any property to the Confederates 
which they could use in carrying on the contest. 







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.wnsvii THE UNITED STATES 
1861-1865 

r 100 200 300 

SCALE OF MILES 

from 92° Greenwich 87° 



1861] THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH IN THE WAR 285 

1 . At the North the national government had more than twice 
as many men to draw on as the South. ^ 

2. The North, although unprepared for war, had iron mills, 
shipyards, foundries, machine shops, and factories of all kinds. 
For this reason it could make everything its soldiers would need, 
from a blanket to a battery. 

3. The North had the command of the sea, and so with its war 
vessels — most of which, however, it had to buy or build — it could 
shut up the Southern ports and cut them off from help from abroad. 

The South had the following advantages : 

1. It had prepared for the war by getting possession of large 
quantities of arms and ammunition (though it had small means of 
getting any more). 

2. With the exception of General Scott and a few others who 
stood by the Union, it had a majority of the best known officers 
in the regular army, — such men as Robert E. Lee of Virginia ^ 
and General Beauregard. 

3. It could send all of its fighting men to the front, while it kept 
several millions of slaves at work raising food to support them. 

4. It was able to fight on the defensive, on its own soil, and so 
required fewer soldiers. 

General Grant thought that the two armies, all things considered, 
were about equally matched. 

324. How Money was raised to carry on the War; National 
Banks. The national government needed immense sums of money 
to pay the Union soldiers, and to obtain arms and military supplies. 
The South, on the other hand, was soon practically cut off from 

^The total population of the United States in i860 was, in round numbers, 32,000,000. 
The Union states, including the border states, had about 23,000,000 ; the eleven seceded 
states about 9,000,000, of which nearly 3,500,000 were slaves. Both sides drew men from the 
border states. 

2 General Lee was bom in Virginia, 1807 ; died, 1870. He was a graduate of West Point 
and served with distinction in the Mexican War (§ 292). When Virginia seceded, Lee, who 
was then a lieutenant colonel in the United States army, said, " I recognize no necessity 
for this state of things," yet he felt it his duty to go with his state. He said, " With all my 
devotion to the Union ... I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against 
my relatives, my children, my home." He was made commander in chief of the Virginia state 
forces. In 1862 he received — subject to the orders of Jefferson Davis — the entire com- 
mand of " the armies of the Confederacy." His management of the war showed that he was a 
man of great military ability, and of entire devotion to what he understood to be his duty. 



286 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [i86i 

selling its cotton or from raising money in any way. The national 
government obtained it in four ways : 

1. By calling on the people of the North for many kinds of 
new taxes. 

2. By a war tariff which increased the duties collected on im- 
ported goods, and compelled payment of such duties in gold. 

3. By issuing enormous quantities of paper money, commonly 
called *' greenbacks." 

4. Finally, and chiefly, by borrowing hundreds of millions of 
dollars both at home and abroad. In return for these loans the 
national government gave bonds which promised to repay the bor- 
rowed money in a certain number of years, and to pay interest on 
it at from six to over seven per cent per year. 

In order to obtain these loans more readily, the government 
created (1863) a great system of new banks called National Banks. 
The state and city banks then in existence (§ 265) had this disad- 
vantage : their paper money often would not pass in another state 
except at a loss to the holder. On this account people frequently 
could not tell, when away from home, what a dollar bill was really 
worth. But the national-bank bills have always been good all over 
the United States, because the banks which issue them are obliged 
by law to deposit government bonds with the treasurer at Wash- 
ington as security.! -p^g National Banks increased rapidly ; they 
are now the only ones which issue paper money (§ 440). 

325. The Number and Position of the Two Armies. President 
Lincoln's first call for troops was quickly followed by others, and 
the South likewise strengthened its side. By the summer of 1861 
the Union forces probably numbered about 180,000, and those 
of the Confederates 1 50,000. The former were under the direction 
of the veteran General Scott (§ 292), and the latter under General 
Beauregard.2 The Union army was mainly in eastern Virginia and 

1 By the act of 1863 (materially changed in 1900) , National Banks were compelled to borrow 
money from the national government, to the amount of 90 per cent of the bills they issued, and 
to deposit the bonds they received from the government with the treasurer at Washington. 

2 General Joseph E. Johnston ranked above General Beauregard, and after the battle of 
Bull Run (July 21, 1 861), in which he took a leading part, he held command of the Confed- 
erate army of Virginia until he was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines, May 31, 1862^ 
when General Lee took command. 



1861] THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN 287 

Maryland. It extended along the banks of the Potomac from Har- 
pers Ferry to the mouth of the river, and thence southward to 
Fort Monroe. The Confederate army held the country south of the 
Potomac, with Richmond as its fortified center. (Map, p. 284.) 

In Missouri the national troops, under General Lyon, Fremont,^ 
and Halleck, got control of that state, while General McClellan 
drove the Confederates from West Virginia. In the southwest 
the Confederates had got possession of the Mississippi from New 
Orleans to Columbus, Kentucky, by building forts on the banks of 
the river. They were preparing to do the same on the Tennessee 
and Cumberland rivers, and they hoped to get the entire control 
of Kentucky besides. 

326. The Battle of Bull Run. The cry at the South was, " On 
to Washington ! " It was answered by the cry of the North, '' On to 
Richmond ! " Beauregard had taken up his position at Manassas 
Junction on a small stream called Bull Run. There he could both 
protect the Confederate capital and threaten Washington. He had 
an army of about 30,000. General McDowell, in command, in 
the field, of the Union forces, had about the same number.^ One 
army, as President Lincoln said, was as '' green " as the other. 
McDowell advanced, not because he was ready, but for the simple 
reason that the North was tired of waiting and was impatient to 
strike a decisive blow. 

The battle began on a sweltering hot Sunday in July (July 21, 
1 861). At first the Union troops drove the Confederates from 
their position. General Bee, one of the Southern leaders, rushing 

1 General Fremont was bom at Savannah in 1813. Under the authority of the govern- 
ment he began the exploration of the Rocky Mountains and of an overland route to the 
Pacific in 1842- 1844. In 1845 he set out on another exploring expedition to the Pacific 
coast. After the outbreak of the Mexican War he, with the assistance of American settlers 
in California, freed that territory from the authority of Mexico, and in the summer of 1846 
he was appointed governor of the territory. The treaty of peace (1848) secured California to 
the United States. In 1856 Fremont was nominated to the presidency (as the Anti-slavery 
candidate) by the Republican party. From 1878 to 1881 he was governor of Arizona. In the 
summer of i86i Fremont issued a proclamation emancipating the slaves of all persons in 
Missouri who were in arms against the Union ; but President Lincoln refused to approve it. 

2 In the Civil War the Confederates counted in battle only those of their men who were 
present and able to fight ; but the Union officers, on the contrary, counted all as present 
whose names were on their army rolls. See General Grant's " Personal ISTemoirs," II, 290, 
and "The Century Company's War Book," I, 485. 



288 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1861 



ehambecsbTiFi 

P E N N S 



up to General Jackson, cried out, '* General, they are beating us 
back ! " *' We will give them the bayonet," said Jackson, quietly. 
Rallying his men, Bee shouted, '' Look ! there is Jackson standing 
like a stone wall ! " It was true ; and '' Stonewall " Jackson,^ as the 
Confederate general was ever after called, used "the bayonet" to 
check the Union advance. Then the Southerners held their ground 
until heavy reenforcements came up, by rail, from the Shenandoah 

valley, and drove the 
Union troops from the 
hard-fought field. As 
the Confederate Gen- 
eral J .E. Johnston says : 
" The Northern army 
fought under the great 
disadvantage of hav- 
ing to make the attack. 
They fled back to Wash- 
ington in confusion." 

327. Results of the 
Defeat at Bull Run. 
Some failures are step- 
ping-stones to success. 
The defeat at Bull Run 
was such a case. In- 
stead of discouraging 
the people of the North, 
it roused them to new 
and greater effort. At the very time the defeated and disheartened 
Union soldiers were pouring over the Long Bridge across the 
Potomac into Washington, Congress voted to raise 500,000 men 
and $500,000,000 to carry on the war. 

1 General T. J. Jackson of Virginia, bom 1824; died 1863. He was one of the most 
remarkable men who fought on the side of the South. His motto was, " Do your duty, and 
leave the rest to Providence." His death was the heaviest personal loss, except perhaps that 
of General A. S. Johnston (§ 332), which the South sustained during the war. Lee called 
" Stonewall " Jackson his " right arm " ; in his department he ranked as one of the ablest 
generals in the Confederacy, and was respected alike by those who fought under him and 
those who fought against him. 




1861J UNION PLAN OF THE WAR 289 

The cry of the North was now, '' Drill and organize ! " General 
McClellan came from West Virginia (§ 325) to take command of 
the army. He taught the men the great lesson, that enthusiasm 
without military organization is of no more use than steam without 
an engine. For the next six months and more " all was quiet on 
the Potomac ";i that quiet, however, meant that both sides were 
getting ready to fight in terrible earnest. 

328. Union Plan of the War. Gradually a plan for the war in 
defense of the Union took shape ; it was this : 

1 . To station vessels of war in front of all Southern ports (Map, 
p. 286), and thus cut off the South from getting supplies from 
abroad for carrying on the contest. This blockade by the Union 
navy was of immense help, and without it the contest might have 
dragged on for many years longer than it did. 

2. To attack and take Richmond. 

3. To open the lower Mississippi, with the Tennessee and the 
Cumberland, which the Confederate forts had closed to navigation. 

4. To break through the Confederate line in the West, march 
an army to the Atlantic, and thence northward to Virginia. 

329. Blockade Runners; Confederate War Vessels; Seizure of 
Mason and Slidell. While the Union forces were getting pos- 
session of Fort Hatteras, Port Royal, and other points on the 
coast of North and South Carolina, fast Southern vessels ran the 
gantlet of the blockade to obtain arms and ammunition ; further- 
more, British steamers, specially built for the work, often succeeded 
in evading the Union cruisers and in bringing supplies for the 
Confederates. Jefferson Davis had no navy, but he succeeded in 
buying or building a number of war vessels in Great Britain, which 
in time destroyed so many merchant ships owned in the North 
that unarmed vessels no longer dared to carry the Stars and Stripes. 
Later, the Alabama, built in England, was added to the Confed- 
erate fleet and inflicted immense damage on Union commerce, for 
which at the end of the war England had to pay roundly (§ 374). 

1 On October 21, 1861, a body of Union troops, 2000 strong, was beaten by a large 
force of Confederates at Ball's Bluff on the Potomac, and on August 10 of the same year 
General Lyon was defeated and killed at the battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri. 



290 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1861 

Early in November (1861) the Confederacy undertook to send 
two commissioners or agents — Mason and Slidell — to Europe 
to get aid for the Southern cause and also to endeavor to per- 
suade England and France to acknowledge the independence of 
the Confederate States. 

Captain Wilkes of the United States navy stopped the British 
mail steamer Treftt, on which Mason and Slidell had embarked 
for England, and took them both prisoners. England at once 




Running the Blockade, — Union Cruiser in Pursuit 

demanded that the national government should give them up. 
The North protested, but President Lincoln said : *' We fought 
Great Britain in 18 12 for doing just what Captain Wilkes has 
done. We must give up the prisoners to England." It was done, 
but Mason and Slidell never succeeded in accomplishing anything 
of importance for the Confederacy. 

330. The Merrimac destroys the Cumberland and the Congress; 
the Monitor, At the beginning of the great struggle the Con- 
federates seized the navy yard at Norfolk, Virginia, and got 



1862] 



THE "MONITOR" AND THE " MERRIMAC 



291 



possession of the United States ship of war Merrimac. They 
plated the vessel with railway iron and sent her out to destroy the 
Union war vessels at the mouth of the James River off Fort 
Monroe. (Map, p. 288.) The Union ships were of wood, and 
the balls from their guns could no more penetrate the iron shell 
of the monster which now attacked them than a sparrow's bill 
could penetrate the back of an alligator. The Merrimac sunk 
the Cjimberland, which carried down with her many sick and 
wounded men ; ^ she then destroyed the Cojigress. The next day 
(Sunday, March 9, 1862) the Merrimac returned to complete 
the destruction of the fleet ; suddenly a strange little craft ap- 
peared, looking like a " cheese box on a raft." This was the 
Monitor,^ a new Union 
war vessel built of iron 
and commanded by 
Lieutenant Worden. 
The Merrimac now 
found that she had got 
her match. After a 
terrific battle the Con- 
federate vessel hur- 
ried back to Norfolk. 

Lieutenant Worden's '' Little Giant" had won the day. If the 
Merrimac had gained the victory, she might next have gone up 
the Potomac and destroyed the national capital. In that case 
European nations might have acknowledged the independence of 
the South, and demanded that the blockade be raised and the ports 
of the Confederacy thrown open to the commerce of the world. 
The United States now built more monitors, and by the end of 
the year had a fleet of several hundred effective war vessels of 
different kinds, both on the ocean and on the western rivers. 

1 See Longfellow's poem on the loss of the Cumberland. 

2 The Monitor was built by Captain Ericsson, the inventor of the screw propeller for 
steamships, and of the hot-air engine. She was an iron vessel of small size, sitting so low 
in the water that scarcely anything of her hull was visible. In the center of her deck stood 
a revolving iron turret, which carried two cannon, sending solid shot weighing one hundred 
and sixty-six pounds. The success of the Monitor stimulated the construction of iron or steel 
war vessels throughout the world. Eventually they entirely superseded wooden ships of war. 




The "Monitor" and the "Merrimac" 



292^ LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1862 



331. The War in the West; Capture of Fort Henry and Fort 
Donelson. At the West the line of the Confederate army, under 
General A. S. Johnston, stretched from Mill Spring and Bowling 
Green, in Kentucky, through Fort Donelson on the Cumberland 
and Fort Henry on the Tennessee, to Columbus on the Missis- 
sippi. (Map, below.) General Halleck,^ in command of the greater 
part of the Union forces of the West, resolved to break that line, 
to enter the cotton states, and also to open the Mississippi. In 




SCALE OF Wn-ES 



fi 50 100 200 300 

January (1862), General Thomas gained a victory at Mill Spring 
and drove the Confederates out of eastern Kentucky. Then General 
Halleck ordered General U. S. Grant ^ to start from Cairo, Illinois, 

1 General Halleck was born near Utica, New York, 1815 ; died, 1872. He graduated at 
West Point and served in the Mexican War. He was appointed a major general of the 
United States army in August, 1861. He received command of the department of Missouri 
(with other states) in November, and of the department of the Mississippi in March, 1862. 
From July 11, 1862, to March, 1864, he was general in chief of the armies of the United 
States, and had his headquarters at Washington. 

2 General U. S. Grant was bom in Ohio, 1822 ; died in New York, 1885. He was a graduate 
of West Point, and served in the Mexican War (§ 293), where he was promoted for meri- 
torious conduct in battle. In 1859 ^e entered the leather and saddlery business with his 
father at Galena, Hlinois. On the breaking out of the Civil War he raised a company of 
Union volunteers, and in August, 1 861, he was made a brigadier general, and took command 
of the department of Cairo. His subsequent career will be traced in the pages of this histoiy. 



H 



^ 




^ 
■^ 



O 
o 

og 




^ 



293 



294 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1862 

and attack Fort Henry ; but Commodore Foote got there first with 
his gunboats and took it (February 6, 1862). Grant then moved 
on Fort Donelson. The battle raged for three days in succession ; 
then the Confederate General Buckner asked Grant what terms 
he would grant him if he gave up the fort. Grant wrote back, 
''No terms except an imconditional and immediate stirre^ider can 
be accepted!' ^ The Confederates were forced to agree to Grant's 
conditions, and the first great Union victory of the war was won 
(February 16, 1862). Grant captured 15,000 prisoners — ''the 
greatest number ever taken in any battle (up to that time) on this 
continent " — and also large quantities of arms. Columbus was 
now of no use to the Confederates and they abandoned it. The 
surrender of Nashville followed, and Kentucky and Tennessee 
were in the hands of the Union forces. 

332. Battles of Pittsburg Landing and Island Number Ten. 
Grant, with his victorious army, then moved up the Tennessee 
River to Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh. Here (April 6, 1862) he 
was attacked by General A. S. Johnston and driven back. The 
night after the battle General Buell brought a large force of 
Union troops. (Map, p. 292.) The Union men now outnumbered 
the Confederates by 17,000, and the next day Grant gained his 
second great victory. In his official report he said, '' I am indebted to 
General Sherman for the success of that battle." On that hotly con- 
tested field 2 5 ,000 men had fallen dead or wounded ; ^ among them 
was General A. S. Johnston, one of the South's noblest men.^ On 
the following day (April 8, 1862) the Confederates on Island Number 
Ten, in the Mississippi (Map, p. 292), surrendered to Commodore 
Foote, after nearly a month's obstinate fighting. That victory was of 
immense importance, for it opened the river to the Union vessels 
down to Vicksburg, a distance of about three hundred miles. 

333. General Summary of the First Year of the War (April, 
1861-April, 1862). The Civil War began (April 12, 1861) with the 

1 Hence the name sometimes given General Grant of " Unconditional Surrender Grant." 
See copy of General Grant's letter to General Buckner on page 293. 

2 Union force, 57,000; Confederate, 40,000. Union loss, 14,000; Confederate, 11,000. 

8 After he was wounded, General Johnston sent his surgeon to attend to some wounded 
Union prisoners ; while he was gone Johnston bled to death. 



1862] EXPEDITION AGAINST NEW ORLEANS 295 

Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. After the surrender of that 
fort, the first great battle was fought in the summer at Bull Run, 
and resulted in the defeat of the Union army. The next spring 
(1862) the battle between the Merrimac and Monitor ozzwrx^d^, and 
the Merrimac was forced to retreat. During the year the Union 
forces in the West gained the important victories of Fort Henry, 
Fort Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, and Island Number Ten. The 
general result of the year's war was decidedly favorable to the 
cause of the Union, especially in the West. 



Second Year of the War (April, 1862 — April, 1863) 

334. Expedition against New Orleans; how the City was de- 
fended. Very early in the spring (1862) an expedition under 
Captain Farragut^ and General Butler sailed from Fort Monroe 
to attack New Orleans, the most important city and port in the 
possession of the Confederate government. The approach to New 
Orleans was defended by two strong forts on the Mississippi, 
about seventy-five miles below the city.^ These forts were nearly 
opposite each other, so that any vessels trying to pass between 
them would be exposed to a tremendous cross fire from their 
guns. Just below the forts the Confederates had stretched two 
heavy chain cables, on hulks, across the river to check any Union 
war ships that might attempt to come up, while above the forts they 
had stationed fifteen armed vessels — two of them ironclads like 
the Merrimac (§ 330). With these defenses the city defied attack. 

Captain Farragut had a fleet of nearly fifty wooden vessels. It 
was considered to be the most powerful '' that had ever sailed under 

1 Admiral David G. Farragut, born in Tennessee in 1801 ; died, 1870. He entered the 
navy in 1812. In 1841 he was made commander, and later captain. In 1862, after his famous 
victory at New Orleans, he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral, then (1864) to that 
of vice admiral, and in 1866 to that of admiral, the highest position in the United States 
navy; the last two grades were created for him. From 1823 to the outbreak of the Civil 
War, Farragut's home, when on shore, was at Norfolk, Virginia. He insisted that Virginia 
had been forced to secede against the will of the majority of the people of the state. From 
1861 to the close of his life his home was at Hastings-on-the-Hudson. 

2 New Orleans is about one hundred and five miles from the sea. In the War of 1812 
a single fort, at one of the points where those two Confederate forts stood, checked the 
advance of the British fleet for nine days, 



296 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

the American flag." General Butler followed him to take com- 
mand of a force of 1 5,000 men, to hold the city after its surrender. 
Farragut's work, with the aid of Commander Porter's mortar boats, ^ 
was to silence the forts, break through the chains, conquer the Con- 
federate fleet, and take the city. One of the men who took part 
in that work was Lieutenant George Dewey, now Admiral Dewey, 
— the ^'Hero of Manila" (§415). 

335. Bombardment of the Forts; Farragut passes them and 
destroys the Opposing Fleet ; Capture of New Orleans. For six 
days and nights Commander Porter hammered away at the forts, 
and the forts hammered back. The discharge of artillery was 
deafening, and the shock so severe that it killed birds and fishes. 
It even broke glass in windows at Balize, thirty miles away.2 
Porter's men were completely exhausted by their labors at the guns^ 
and the moment they were off duty they would drop down on the 
deck and fall fast asleep, amid the continuous roar of the battle. 

Finally, Captain Farragut determined to make an attempt to 
cut through the chains and run past the forts. He succeeded in 
doing this, and, after a terrific combat, destroyed the Confederate 
fleet and reached New Orleans. 

The river front of the city, for a distance of five miles, was all 
ablaze with burning ships, steamboats, and bales of cotton. The 
Confederates had set them on fire to prevent the Union forces 
from seizing them. A party of Farragut's men landed, speedily 
hauled down the Stars and Bars from the public buildings, and 
hoisted the Stars and Stripes in their place (April 25, 1862). Not 
long after this, Farragut was honored with the tide of Rear Admiral 

Port Hudson and Vicksburg were now the only important forti- 
fied points on the Mississippi still held by the Confederates. If 
the Union forces could take them, the great river of the West 

1 Mortar boats : vessels for carrying mortars, — short and very wide-mouthed cannon for 
firing shells. The shells used here were hollow cast-iron balls of great size, weighing nearly 
three hundred pounds. They were filled with powder, and so constructed that when they 
fell they would explode with tremendous violence. The shells made a peculiar screaming^ 
hissing noise as they flew through the air, accompanied by a train of smoke by day and of 
fire by night. When one buried itself in the earth inside of one of the forts and then ex- 
ploded, the result was like that of a small earthquake. 

2 See Draper's "The American Civil War," II, 331. 



1862] 



THE WAR IN VIRGINIA 



297 



would once more be open from its source to the sea. But both 
Port Hudson and Vicksburg stood on immensely high bluffs, out 
of the reach of the guns of the war vessels, so that it would be 
exceedingly difficult to capture them by an attack from the river. 
For this reason it was decided to let them alone until a land force 
could be sent to join in the attack. 

Meanwhile, the Union navy had captured several important 
points on the coast of North and South Carolina. 

336. The War in Virginia; McClellan's Advance on Richmond; 
the Peninsular Campaign; the Weather. Before Farragut had 
taken New Orleans, General 
McClellan with 100,000 men 
began an advance on Rich- 
mond from Fort Monroe. 
His plan was to move up 
the Peninsula — as the Vir- 
ginians call the long and 
rather narrow strip of land 
between the James and York 
rivers. (Map, p. 288.) The 
Confederates did everything 
in their power to check his 
advance at Yorktown and 
Williamsburg, and later at 
Seven Pines or Fair Oaks. 

Meanwhile, heavy rains 
compelled McClellan's army to wade, rather than -march forward, 
through mud and water. To increase his difficulties the Chicka- 
hominy River overflowed its banks. (Map, above.) Part of his 
army was on one side of it and part on the other. For weeks they 
struggled in a swamp, building roads and bridges, and fighting 
the weather rather than the enemy. In this way McClellan lost 
an immense number of his men by sickness. 

337. ** Stonewall" Jackson's Raid; Stuart's Raid; Results of 
the Peninsular Campaign. Early in June (1862) General Lee 
(§323) took command of the Confederate forces shortly after 




298 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1862 

" Stonewall " Jackson (§ 326) had started to drive General Banks' 
Union army out of the Shenandoah valley,^ in West Virginia, and 
make the authorities in Washington think that the capital was 
in danger of immediate attack. With his 17,000 men Jackson 
made Banks' 9000 beat a hasty retreat to the Potomac ; and he 
effectually prevented McClellan from getting any help from the 
40,000 Union troops at Fredericksburg. Then Lee sent General 
Stuart with a dashing body of cavalry to see what mischief he 
could do. Stuart rode clear round McClellan's army, tore up the 
railways, burned car loads of provisions, and made matters very 
uncomfortable for the Union general. 

From June 25 to July i (1862), Lee and McClellan were en- 
gaged in a number of desperate fights around Richmond, known 
as the ''Seven Days' Battles ";2 Lee captured many guns and 
prisoners ; the Union forces retreated to the James River, and the 
government at Washington recalled McClellan and his army to 
the neighborhood of the national capital. In these last battles 
over 15,000 men had been lost on each side. The UnicMi army 
had accomplished nothing decisive, though it had been within 
sight of the spires of the Confederate capital, and of the wooden 
or " Quaker guns " which helped to guard it.^ Once the alarm 
there was so great that a niece of Jefferson Davis wrote to a friend, 
'' Uncle Jeff thinks we had better go to a safer place than Rich- 
mond." On the other hand. President Lincoln called for addi- 
tional volunteers ; and new forces, shouting, '' We are coming, 
Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more," began to go 
forward to the aid of the government. 

338. The Second Battle of Bull Run ; Lee*s Advance across the 
Potomac; Battle of Antietam. Near the last of August (1862), 

1 General Joseph E. Johnston had been in command since the battle of Bull Run, July, 1861. 
He was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines, May 31, 1862, and Lee then took command, 

2 In the last of these battles, that at Malvern Hill, Lee's forces were driven back with 
heavy loss. During the Peninsular campaign the armies of Fremont, Banks, and McDowell 
were united under the name of the Army of Virginia, and the command of this force was 
given to General Pope, who had been successful in the West. 

3 One of the humorous features of the war was the use of wooden cannon by the Con- 
federates in their fortifications at Manassas, Richmond, and elsewhere. It was some time 
before the Union army found out this clever trick of the " Quaker guns," which, as a " con- 
traband " said, were "just as good to scare with as any others." 




General Lee 



299 



300 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1862 

Lee advanced his forces against General Pope, who had been given 
command of the Army of Virginia, and met him in the second 
battle of Bull Run. '' Stonewall " Jackson did the heaviest of the 
fighting. Pope was defeated, but fell back in good order to 
Washington and resigned his command. 

Not long after, Lee crossed the Potomac above Washington, his 
men singing exultingly, '* Maryland, my Maryland." Lee believed 
that thousands of the Maryland people would welcome him as 
their deliverer, and would join him in a march against Philadelphia. 
In this he was sorely mistaken. In the middle of September 
'' Stonewall " Jackson captured Harpers Ferry, and thus obtained 
a quantity of arms and some provisions. McClellan now advanced 
to meet Lee. At Antietam Creek (or Sharpsburg) (Map, p. 288) 
one of the bloodiest battles of the war was fought (September 1 7, 
1862) ; and the bodies of the *' boys in blue " and of the " boys in 
gray " lay in ranks like swaths of grass cut by the sc3^he.^ After 
the terrible contest Lee retreated across the Potomac. McClellan 
followed, but he moved so slowly that the government took the 
command of the army from him and gave it to General Burnside. 

339. Battles of Fredericksburg and Murfreesboro. General 
Burnside set out to march on Richmond, but found the Confeder- 
ates strongly fortified ^ on the hills around Fredericksburg, on the 
Rappahannock. (Map, p. 288.) In the battle which ensued (Decem- 
ber 13, 1862) he was defeated and forced to fall back toward 
Washington. General Hooker, or '' Fighting Joe Hooker " as his 
men called him, then took command of Burnside's army. 

I'his was the last battle of the year in the East. In the West 
the Union forces had gained a victory at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, 
and had taken Corinth, Mississippi ; the Confederates attempted 
to retake it, but were driven back with frightful loss. Bragg in- 
vaded Kentucky •, Buell fought him at Perryville, and Bragg fled 

1 Union forces actually engaged at Antietam were estimated at about 60,000. McClellan's 
available strength was probably double that of Lee's. Confederate forces, 40,000. See " The 
Century Company's War Book," II, 603. Loss nearly 12,000 on each side. Authorities differ 
about the strength of the two armies. " Loss " in all cases is understood to include wounded 
as well as killed. 

2 Burnside had about 116,000 men ; Lee had nearly 80,000 strongly entrenched on and 
near the hills. Burnside lost 12,000 men, and Lee not quite half that number. 



1863] PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION 301 

with his plunder and took shelter behind the Cumberland Moun- 
tains. Grant and Sherman then moved against Vicksburg, but 
the Confederate cavalry cut off Grant's supplies and Sherman was 
repulsed. Next, General Rosecrans moved against Bragg. He met 
the Confederate general at Murf reesboro, Tennessee (December 3 1 , 
1862). (Map, p. 292.) Each had about 40,000 men. The contest 
raged for three days. Rosecrans said, '' The battle must be won." 
The Union forces held their ground, ^ and Bragg retreated in 
the night. 

340. President Lincoln *s Proclamation of Emancipation, 1863; 
its Results ; the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Presi- 
dent Lincoln had entered office resolved, as he then said, not to 
interfere with slavery (§319). But the progress of the contest 
convinced him that slavery was the real cause and the main 
strength of the war against the Union. He saw that he must 
strike slavery a decided blow. 

On New Year's Day, 1863, the President issued a proclamation, 
freeing all the black men in those states of the South which were 
still at war against the Union. Thus by a single stroke of the pen 
the government gave over three millions of human beings that 
most precious yet most perilous of all rights — the ownership of 
themselves. 

No greater event is recorded in the pages of American history. 
After the expiration of nearly a hundred years the nation at last 
included the negro in that Declaration of Independence, which 
declares that ''all men are created equal," — that is, with equal 
natural rights to '' life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 

Many thousands of these ''freedmen" enlisted in the Union 
army ; but the greater part remained quietly at work on the South- 
ern plantations. The freedom of the whole body of slaves in the 
country was not secured until after the close of the war. Then 
the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1865) declared 
that slavery should no longer exist in the United States. ^ From 
an industrial point of view, that final act of emancipation has 

1 Union loss, 14,000; Confederate, 11,000. 

2 See the Constitution — Amendments, Article XIII. 



302 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1863 



proved to be as much an advantage to the white race as to the 
negroes themselves. Free labor has brought a greater degree of 
prosperity than slave labor ever did. Now that the South is no 
longer hampered by having to hold the negroes in bondage, it has 
found its real strength and its true and lasting prosperity. 

341. Summary of the Second Year of the War (April, 1862- 
April, 1863). The one great military success of the year on the 
part of the Union forces was the taking of New Orleans. In the 
East, if McClellan and his successors failed to reach Richmond, 
Lee, on the other hand, failed just as completely and far more 
disastrously in his attempted invasion of the North. The Procla- 
mation of Emancipation gave the war a new character. Up to this 
time the North had been fighting simply to restore the Union as 
it was before the South seceded ; but now it fought to restore the 
Union without slavery, — to make the nation wholly free. 



Third Year of the War (April, 1S63— April, 1864) 

342. The War in the East ; Battle of Chancellor sville. In the 

spring (1863) General Hooker crossed the Rapidan, intending 
to advance on Richmond. But he had 
no sooner started than General Lee, with 
'' Stonewall " Jackson (§ 326), met him at 
Chancellorsville.i (Map, p. 288.) Here a 
two days' battle was fought (May 2-3,1863). 
At a critical moment General Hooker was 
stunned by a cannon ball and lay senseless 
for many hours. During all that time his 
army was '' without a head." 

Lee, with '' Stonewall " Jackson's help, 
not only won the battle, but drove the 
Union forces back across the river. Still it was a dearly bought 
triumph for the Confederates, for '' Stonewall " fell. If we except 

1 Union forces in the battle, 130,000 ; Confederate, 60,000. But see note 2 on page 287, 
on estimates of combatants. Union loss, 17,000; Confederate, about 12,000. General Lee 
gave Jackson all the credit of the victory. 




" Stonewall " Jackson 



REDUCED COPY OF A PART OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION! 

January i, 1S63 

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^^^tn^fiyfia^ij ^iU4vc6^ 




1 President Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation of emancipation on September 22, 
1862, giving one hundred days warning to the South. In case any state chose to return to the 
Union within that time its slaves were not to be set at liberty by the final proclamation. 

The President said : " My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is 
not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, 
I would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it ; and if I could 
save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that." — Letter to Horace 
Greeley, August 22, 1862. 



303 



304 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1863 



the loss of General A. S. Johnston (§ 332), the death of Jackson 
was the heaviest blow, of the kind, which the South suffered 
during the war. Chancellorsville was the 
last victory gained by the Confederates in 
Virginia in the '' open country." The com- 
mand of the Union army was now given to 
General Meade. 

343. Battle of Gettysburg. A month after 
the battle of Chancellorsville, Lee made a 
second (§ 338) attempt to enter the free 
states and conquer a peace. He moved down 
the Shenandoah valley with about 70,000 
men, crossed the Potomac in June (1863), 
and moved into Pennsylvania, intending to 
strike Harrisburg, the capital of the state, and then, if successful, 
to march on Philadelphia. General Meade, with a Union force of 




Map of Gettysburg 




The High-Water-Mark Monument 

Erected at the " clump of trees " on the battlefield of Gettysburg, 1892 

This monument was erected to commemorate the defeat, by the Union troops, of the 

famous charge of the Confederate column led by General Pickett. It consists of 

a large open bronze book which bears the inscription: ^'•High-Water Mark 

«f the Rebellion^ The book gives the names of the Confederate officers 

who led the attack and of the Union officers who repulsed it. 



BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 



305 



about 90,000,1 met Lee at Gettysburg, Both armies felt that this 
was the place to fight. 

Here one of the most important and decisive battles of the war 
took place. (Map, p. 288.) 
Both sides fought with 
desperate courage. The 
Confederates held Sem- 
inary Ridge ; the Union 
men. Cemetery Ridge, 
nearly opposite. The 
battle lasted three days 
(July 1-3, 1863). On 
the first day the Confed- 
erates gained the advan- 
tage. On the second day 
Lee's men made a rush 
to get Little Round Top, 
but were beaten back 
with heavy loss. Later, 
they got a foothold on 
Gulp's Hill, but were 
soon driven out. On the 
third day Lee sent Gen- 
eral Pickett, with a force 
of 15,000 Confederates, 
to attack General Han- 
cock on Cemetery Ridge. 

In order to reach the 
ridge the Confederate 
force had to cross a mile 
of open ground. They 
came forward steadily, 
silently, under a terrible 
fire from the Union guns. Their ranks were plowed through and 
through with shot and shell, but the men did not falter. They 

1 Oflacial returns estimate that Lee had at least 70,000 men, and Meade 90,000. 




The "Soldiers' Monument" in the Na- 
tional Cemetery on the Battlefield 
OF Gettysburg 

The battle of Gettysburg is generally considered as the 

turning point in the terrible struggle between the 

Confederate forces fighting to destroy the Union 

and the National forces which fought to 

preserve it. 



3o6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1863 



charged up the sHght rise of ground and broke a part of the 
Union Hne ; but they could go no farther, and Pickett, with the 
fragments of his division, — for only fragments were left, — fell 
back defeated. It was the end of the most stubbornly fought battle 
of the war; nearly 50,000 brave men had fallen ^ in the contest; 
Lee had failed ; he retreated across the Potomac and never made 

another attempt to invade 
the North .2 

344. The Surrender 
of Vicksburg and Port 
Hudson. While the great 
battle of Gettysburg was 
going on, another battle of 
almost or quite equal im- 
portance was being fought 
at Vicksburg, on the Mis- 
sissippi (§335)- Vicks- 
burg and vicinity were 
held by a strong Confed- 
erate force under General 
Pemberton. Early in the 
spring (1863) General J. 
E. Johnston (§ 325, note 
2) (then at Chattanooga, 
Tennessee) moved with 
an army to join Pember- 
ton. In a number of masterly battles General Grant defeated 
Pemberton before Johnston could unite with him. He then forced 
him to retreat to Vicksburg, and at the same time drove Johnston 
off the field. For several weeks following, Grant and Sherman,^ 
with a total force of over 70,000, besieged Vicksburg. 

1 Union loss, 23,003 ; Confederate loss, 20,451. 

2 For this great victory and the one that followed it, at Vicksburg, President Lincoln 
called for a day of national thanksgiving and prayer. 

8 General W. T. Sherman was born at Lancaster, Ohio, in 1820. He graduated at West 
Point in 1840, and entered the regular army. He commanded a Union brigade at Bull Run, 
and, under Grant, won the battle of Pittsburg Landing (see §332). In May, 1862, he was 
made a major general. He died in i8qi. 





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THE SURRENDER OF VICKSBURG 



307 



During that time the Union men were shelHng the city night 
and day. Food had become so scarce that the Confederate troops 
had but one *' cracker " and a small piece of raw pork a day, and 
the town was so knocked to pieces with shot and shell that the 
women and children were forced to live in caves dug in the earth. 
They, too, were reduced to a few mouthfuls of food a day ; and 




VlCKSBURG, SHOWING THE UnION GuNBOATS AND THE FIRING FROM 

THE Confederate Batteries 

when '' mule steaks " gave out, many had to choose between eating 
cats and rats or dying of starvation. 

Out of less than 30,000 men the Confederates had 6000 
in hospital, besides great numbers unfit for active duty. They 
could hold out no longer, and on July 4 (1863) Vicksburg sur- 
rendered. The Union troops '' felt that their long and weary 
marches, hard fighting, and ceaseless watching by night and day " 
were over. Including noncombatants, Grant took nearly 32,000 
prisoners. Famine had forced them to give up their stronghold ; 
had they not given it up. Grant's army would have dug down 
or blown up this '' Gibraltar of the Confederacy." The Stars 
and Stripes were hoisted over the courthouse, and the Union 



3o8 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1863 

men distributed bread to the hungry and made the place ring 



with 



Yes, we '11 rally round the flag, boys. 

We '11 rally once again. 

Shouting the battle cry of Freedom." 



The victories of Gettysburg and Vicksburg ensured a great 
'' Fourth " for the Union. 

Port Hudson surrendered five days later (July 9, 1863), and 
thus another part of the Union plan of the war was accomplished 
(§ 328). One part had been to shut the ports of the South by 
the blockade ; another was to open the Mississippi River. This 
had now been done, and the great river flowed in peace from its 
source to the sea. 

345. Draft Riots; Morgan's Raid; Chickamauga; Siege of Chat- 
tanooga. The last call of President Lincoln for volunteers did 
not bring anything like the number of men needed, and in July 
(1863) the government began to draft the troops required. In New 
York City mobs of rioters resisted the draft, but they were finally 
put down by armed force, and the necessary men for the army were 
in the end obtained. In the South drafting had long been going on, 
and nearly every able-bodied man was forced to serve in the war. 

During the same month General Morgan with a body of Con- 
federate cavalry made a raid through Tennessee and Kentucky 
into Indiana and Ohio, burning mills, factories, and bridges, tear- 
ing up the railways, and destroying a large amount of property ; 
but he was at last captured and his men scattered. 

In the course of the summer General Rosecrans, by a series of 
brilliant movements, forced General Bragg (§ 339) to take refuge 
in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In September he compelled Bragg to 
give up that city to him. Shortly afterward he met the Confed- 
erate general in Georgia and fought the great battle of Chicka- 
mauga (September 19-20, 1863). Bragg had the most men and 
defeated Rosecrans. But General Thomas — the " Rock of Chick- 
amauga," as his men called him — repulsed Bragg's attack. 
Thomas held his position like a rock, and not only saved a large 
part of the Union army from destruction, but inflicted terrible loss 
on the Confederates, who greatly outnumbered him. The Union 



1863-1864] GRANT GENERAL IN CHIEF 309 

forces now retreated to Chattanooga (Map, p. 292), and were shut 
up there by Bragg, who besieged them for two months. 

346. Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge ; Sher- 
man's Raid ; Grant General in Chief. The Confederates held 
Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, overlooking the beautiful 
Chattanooga valley. (See p. 311.) General Hooker had come from 
Virginia (§ 342), and under Grant he, with Sherman and Thomas, 
drove them from the mountains in two battles (November 24-25, 
1863), — one the famous ''battle above the clouds," ^ the other 
the magnificent charge of the Union troops up Missionary Ridge. 
The Confederates now retreated to Dalton, Georgia. 

In February (1864) General Sherman made a raid, from Vicks- 
burg, across the state of Mississippi. He effectually destroyed the 
railways centering at Meridian (Map, p. 306), by ripping up the 
rails and burning bridges, machine shops, and locomotives. So 
little was left of the place that one of the inhabitants said, '' Sher- 
man didn't simply smash things, but he just carried the town off 
with him." This rendered the Confederates in that quarter help- 
less to attack him at Chattanooga. Shortly after this (March 3, 
1864), Grant was made general in chief of the Union armies. 
At last the right man has been found. He will advance on Rich- 
mond, and Sherman will soon begin his famous march from Chat- 
tanooga to Atlanta, and from Atlanta to the sea. 

347. Summary of the Third Year of the War (April, 1863- 
April, 1864). At the East the Confederates had gained the battle 
of Chancellorsville, but lost '' Stonewall " Jackson. Lee's second 
invasion of the North had ended in his defeat at Gettysburg ; at 
the same time Grant and Sherman were taking Vicksburg. Port 
Hudson surrendered a few days later, and the Mississippi was 
open through its entire length. In the southwest the Union 
forces, after their defeat at Chickamauga, won the brilliant vic- 
tories of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Grant was 
now made general in chief of the Union forces ; he went east to 
manage the war there, and left Sherman in charge of the West. 

1 That of Lookout Mountain. Union forces in the campaign 60,000, loss 5800 ; Confed- 
erate 40,000 (?), loss 6700. 



3IO LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1864-1865 

Fourth and Last Year of the War (April, 1864 — 
April, 1865) 

348. Grant and Sherman agree on a ** Hammering Campaign." 

Early in the spring (1864) Grant and Sherman met and decided 
on a plan of action. The Confederates had been driven from the 
Mississippi ; they now had two chief centers of power left. First, 
Lee, with an army of about 60,000, held the southern banks of 
the Rapidan and the Rappahannock (Map, p. 312), thus guard- 
ing Richmond and all the country south of it. Secondly, J. E. 
Johnston, with about 75,000, held Dalton, Georgia (a town a short 
distance below Chattanooga, Tennessee) (Map, p. 292), and all the 
country south and east of it. 

Grant and Sherman agreed to divide their work : the first, with 
120,000 men, was to move on Lee and compel him to surrender 
Richmond ; the second, then at Chattanooga with an army of 
100,000, was to march the same day on Johnston, beat him, and 
then push his way through to the sea. This was "the famous 
hammering campaign." ^ Grant and Sherman agreed '' to ham- 
mer" together, ''to hammer" with all their might, and never to 
leave off '' hammering " until they had given the finishing blow, 
and permanently established peace, union, and freedom for the 
whole country. 

349. The Battles of the Wilderness. South and east of the Rapi- 
dan is a desolate region known as ''the Wilderness." (Map, p. 3 1 2.) 
Much of it is covered with a scraggy growth of oak, pine, and 
tangled underbrush. Grant's army began to advance into that 
region (May 4, 1864). Grant was headed for Richmond, and, sit- 
ting on a log in the Wilderness, he telegraphed to Sherman at 
Chattanooga (§ 348) to begin his march into Georgia. From that 
time until June, or about a month in all, Grant was " hammering" at 
Longstreet and other noted fighters of the Confederate army, first 
in the thick of the Wilderness itself, then at Spottsylvania Court- 
house (May 8-18, 1864), then at Cold Harbor (June 3, 1864), on 

1 " Hammering " in the sense of giving the Confederates no rest ; Grant did this, largely, 
by direct attack ; Sherman, largely by indirect or flank attack. 




View from Lookout Mountain showing the Tennessee River 

The mountain rises to the south of the city of Chattanooga and commands a 
view extending into seven states. To the east rises Missionary Ridge. 



312 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1864 



the edge of the fortifications of Richmond, where, it is said, 10,000 
of our '' men in blue " fell in twenty minutes. (Map, below.) 

It was a terrible series of battles, costing the Union army a loss 
of an immense number. Lee did not lose so many men because 
he knew the country perfectly, and was acting on the defensive. 
Grant had vowed that he would not turn back, but would fight it 
out on that line if it took all summer. He did not turn back, but 
he had to give up his direct line of advance and take another. 

Lee had retreated, and 
intrenched himself in- 
side the fortifications of 
Richmond ; in order to 
draw him out to a battle 
in the open field, or to 
find a more favorable 
point of attack. Grant 
now moved round to 
Petersburg on the south 
of the Confederate cap- 
ital. (See Map.) 

350. Captain Wins- 
low sinks the Alabama; 
Early's Raid. Peters- 
burg was strongly forti- 
fied, and Grant had to 
lay siege to it with shot 
and shell, as he did 
to Vicksburg (§ 344). 
While he was busy in this way. Captain Winslow of the United States 
war ship Kearsarge attacked the Alabama (§ 329), commanded by 
Captain Semmes. The fight took place off the northern coast of 
France (June 19, 1864). Captain Winslow gained the victory and 
sunk the vessel that had destroyed so many Northern merchant ships* 
About the beginning of July (1864), Lee dispatched General 
Early with a strong force to make a dash on Washington. Early 
succeeded in getting within half a dozen miles of that fort-girdled 





General Grant 



313 



314 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1864 



city, and then had to retreat up the Shenandoah valley. He carried 
off with him about 5000 horses and 2000 cattle to recruit the fast- 
failing fortunes of the men in '' Dixie's land." ^ Later in the same 
month Early's cavalry made a raid into Pennsylvania and burned 
Chambersburg. 

351. Sheridan's Raid in the Shenandoah Valley. Grant now 
(August 7, 1864) sent General Sheridan 2 with a strong force of 
Union cavalry to lay waste the Shenandoah valley. (Map, p. 312,) 




Grant shelling Petersburg 
Notice the defenses formed of stakes and trees in front of the Union army. 

This valley was one of the chief strongholds of the Confederates, 
and Grant was determined to destroy everything in it which could 
support their men. Sheridan went to work with a will, and in the 
course of a few weeks he burned so many barns and mills filled 

* " For Dixie's land we take our stand, 
And live or die for Dixie ! " 

This was one of the most famous of the Confederate war songs ; it was originally a negro 
melody sung in praise of the South or " Dixie's land." It was a great favorite with Presi- 
dent Lincoln. 

2 General Philip H. Sheridan was of Irish descent, and was bom in Albany, New York, 
in 1831 ; died, 1888. He graduated at West Point in 1853. In 1864 he was appointed com- 
mander of all the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, and after his famous "ride" to 
Winchester he was made a major general. 



1864] SHERIDAN'S RIDE 315 

with grain, and drove off so many sheep and cattle, that it was 
said, '' If a crow wants to fly down the valley, he must carry his 
provisions with him." Could " Stonewall " Jackson (§ 342) have 
revisited that beautiful country, — the pride of his heart, — he 
would have wept fierce tears over its heaps of desolate ashes, as 
the women and children of Chambersburg (§ 350) had wept and 
wrung their hands at the sight of their blazing homes. 

352. The Petersburg Mine ; Sheridan »s Ride. Meanwhile (July 
30, 1864), General Burnside (§ 339), acting under General Grant's 
order, had undermined the Confederate fortifications at Peters- 
burg (§ 349) and placed 8000 pounds of powder in the mine. 
When it exploded it made a deep chasm or ''crater" nearly 200 
feet long. The Union soldiers rushed into the breach, hoping to 
enter the city ; but the Confederate fire made it a gigantic grave 
for hundreds of brave fellows, while those who got out found 
themselves prisoners in the hands of Lee's army. 

In September (1864) there was fighting in the Shenandoah 
valley between Sheridan and Early (§§350, 351), in which Sheri- 
dan gained the day. Later, Early took advantage of Sheridan's 
absence from his army to surprise the Union forces at Cedar Creek 
in the valley. They retreated, and the retreat soon became a panic. 
Sheridan was then at Winchester, about twenty miles away. He 
heard the cannon with their 

" terrible grumble, and rumble, and roar, 
Telling the battle was on once more."i 

Mounting his horse, he hurried to the scene of disaster. As he 
came up, the Union cavalry greeted him with a great cheer. 
'' Face the other way ! " shouted Sheridan to the retreating men. 
They did face the other way, and drove the Confederates ''flying" 
out of that part of the valley. 

353. The War in the West; Sherman^s Advance to Atlanta. 
According to agreement (§ 348), Sherman began his advance from 
Chattanooga to Adanta the same day (May 4, 1864) that Grant 
marched forward into the Wilderness. Atlanta was not only a 

1 See Read's poem of " Sheridan's Ride " in " Heroic Ballads " [Ginn and Company] ; then 
read Sheridan's own modest account of the " ride " in his " Personal Memoirs," II, 66-92. 



3i6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1864 

great railway center, but it was '' the chief seat of the machine 
shops, foundries, and factories of the Confederacy." For these 
reasons Sherman was resolved to capture the city at any cost. 

Sherman advanced slowly through a rough, mountainous coun- 
try. He fought sharp battles at Resaca (May 14-15, 1864), at 
Dallas (May 25-28, 1864), and at Kenesaw Mountain (June 27, 
1864) (Map, p. 320); but the Confederates could not check him 
in his march. Sherman says that for an entire month the Union 
army never ceased firing for even '' a minute." But his soldiers 
would rather have fought more battles and had less rain. For 




Farragut's Letter Home, written just before the Battle 

I am going into Mobile Bay in the morning if " God is my leader," as I hope he is. 

D. G. Farragut 

three weeks it poured most of the time night and day ; while he 
was marching, every man had a rivulet streaming down his back, 
and, as the army carried no tents, he was fortunate .when night 
came if he did not have to sleep in a puddle. 

As fast as the Confederates, under Johnston, fell back they tore 
up the railway track and burned the bridges ; but Sherman's men 
rebuilt them so rapidly that '' the whistle of the locomotives was 
always following close on the heels of Johnston's soldiers." 

354. Sherman takes Atlanta; Farragut enters Mobile Bay. 
After a series of battles with Hood, to whom Jefferson Davis 
had now given the command in place of General J. E. Johnston 




3*7 



3l8 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1864 

(§344), Sherman took Atlanta (September 2, 1864). He had 
advanced 100 miles from Chattanooga, and in that short distance 
each side had lost about 30,000 men; that meant that every 
mile had cost the two armies 600 killed and wounded. Sherman 
burned the foundries, mills, and machine shops of Atlanta, but 
spared all its dwelling houses and churches. This destruction 
crippled the Southern armies. From that time they fought like 




An Incident of Sherman's March through Georgia 



a man with one of his arms broken ; they were as brave, as reso- 
lute as ever, but they lost ground every day. 

Meanwhile, Admiral Farragut(§ 334) attacked Mobile (August 5, 
1864). He stationed himself in the rigging of his vessel, where 
he could see every move in the battle ; after a hard fight he forced 
his way with his fleet past the forts and took possession of the 
harbor. He completely closed the port of Mobile ^ against supplies 
sent to the Confederates from abroad. This naval victory was one 
more important step taken toward compelling the final surrender 
of the South. 

1 All the ports of the South had long been blockaded by Union war vessels, but in some 
cases " blockade runners " succeeded in evading these vessels, and thus a certain amount of 
secret commerce was carried on. 




3»9 



330 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1864 



355. Sherman's March from Atlanta to the Sea. After the 
fall of Atlanta, Jefferson Davis ordered the Confederate army 
to abandon the state of Georgia, his intention being to strike 
General Thomas, who held Nashville. He hoped in this way to 
compel Sherman to turn back to help Thomas. But Sherman 
believed that *'the Rock of Chickamauga " (§ 345) was quite able 
to take care of himself ; he therefore resolved to push forward. 
About the middle of November ( 1 864) Sherman cut the telegraph 
and railway lines which connected him with the North. Thus 




Sherman's March 
Chattanooga to Atlanta ; Atlanta to Savannah ; Savannah to Raleigh. 

'' detached from all friends, dependent on its own resources and 
supplies," his army set out on its great march to the sea. For four 
weeks Sherman and his men disappeared. The North knew noth- 
ing of his movements. But Grant had faith that his friend would 
not get lost, and that sometime the country would hear from him. 
Meanwhile, Sherman was going forward with 60,000 veterans, 
plenty of provisions, and practically no force to resist him. He 
cut a clean swath sixty miles wide^ from Atlanta to Savannah 

1 " So we made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train, 
Sixty miles in latitude, three hundred to the main." 

" Marching through Georgia." 



1864] THOMAS DESTROYS HOOD'S ARMY 321 

(Map, p. 320), destroying railways and stripping the plantations 
and towns bare of everything, — cows, pigs, chickens, hay, — 
whatever, in fact, man or horse could devour, vanished before the 
advancing army. Along this broad track of desolation several 
thousand negroes followed in the wake of '' Massa Sherman," 
shouting and singing as they trudged on. 

356. Thomas destroys Hood's Army. While Sherman was press- 
ing forward, the Confederate General Hood — one of the best 
fighters in the South — moved from the vicinity of Atlanta into 
Tennessee to attack Thomas (§355). A battie was fought at 
Franklin (November 30, 1864), in which Hood was severely 
repulsed. Then Hood advanced and besieged Thomas in Nash- 
ville. Thomas was slow, but when he did strike, it was with 
sledge-hammer force. 

He attacked Hood (December 15-16, 1864) and cut his army 
all to pieces. The miserable remnant, ragged, barefooted, wet to 
the skin by incessant winter rains, shivering and starving, escaped, 
as best they could, leaving their sick and wounded to die along 
the roadside. This ended the war in Tennessee. The Confed- 
eracy had now practically shrunk from eleven states to three, — 
Virginia, and North and South Carolina ; the rest were either 
inactive, or they were under the control of the military power of 
the United States. 

357. Sherman takes Savannah and moves Northward. In a 
little less than a month from the day when he left Atlanta, Sherman 
reached Savannah. He stormed and took Fort McAllister on the 
south of the city (December 13, 1864); he entered Savannah 
eight days later (December 21) and the next day he sent the 
following message to the President : 

" Savannah, Georgia, Dec. 22, 1864. 
" To his Excellency, President Lincoln, Washington, D.C. : 

" I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hun- 
dred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition ; also about twenty-five 

thousand bales of cotton. 

" W. T. Sherman, Major General." 1 

1 General Sherman sent this message by a vessel to Fort Monroe. It reached the Presi- 
dent on Christmas eve. 



SHERMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF LEE'S SURRENDER 

[Special Field Orders, No. J4] 

Headquarters Military Division of the 
Mississippi, in the Field, Smithfield, 
North Carolina, April 12, 1865. 

The General commanding announces to the army that he has 
official notice from General Grant that General Lee surrendered 
to him his entire army, on the 9th inst., at Appomattox Court- 
house, Virginia. 

Glory to God and our country, and all honor to our comrades 
in arms, toward whom we are marching ! 

A little more labor, a little more toil on our part, the great race 
is won, and our government stands regenerated, after four long 
years of war. 

W. T. Sherman, Major General commanding. 
(See Sherman's " Memoirs ") 



The above order was issued while the Union army was marching from 
Goldsboro, North Carolina, in pursuit of Johnston's army. Johnston did not 
make a stand, but surrendered near Durham Station, about twenty-five miles 
northwest of Raleigh, North Carolina, April 26, 1865. 

When Sherman's men learned that Lee had surrendered they went wild 
with excitement. They shouted, they flung up their caps, they turned somer- 
saults in their delight. 

The whole land seemed full of rejoicing that the long, terrible struggle was 
practically over. Confederate as well as Union soldiers were glad to see peace 
at hand ; and a Southern woman, who heard the hurrahs of Sherman's " boys 
in blue " as they marched past her house, looked upon her wondering children 
and said, while tears streamed down her cheeks, "Now father will come home.'' 
. — See General Jacob D. Cox's " The March to the Sea." 



322 



JjL A^U^t^ (U/l^^ (^Lwik, ^^ur^ZI^ 
pU^ Zov^v^^<^ Cl^ru^ Urptt 00^^ — - '^^^— 

Lee's Letter to Grant respecting the Surrender of the 
Confederate Army of Northern Virginia 



323 



324 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1865 

Long before they reached Savannah, Sherman's men had come 
to the conclusion that the seacoast was not their final destination, 
and they would call out to the General as he rode past, " Uncle 
Billy, I guess Grant is waiting for us at Richmond ! " ^ 

They were right, for early in the new year (1865) Sherman 
set out with his army northward. It was a seven weeks' march 
through mud, rain, and swamps. He reached Columbia, the 
capital of South Carolina, about the middle of February, and 
ordered the destruction of all buildings which might be of use 
to the Confederates in prolonging the war. Unfortunately the 
town caught fire, and in spite of all the efforts of the Union army 
to extinguish the flames, the greater part of the place was burned 
to the ground. On his advance Sherman had to fight General 
J. E. Johnston with a strong Confederate force near Goldsboro, 
North Carolina (March 19, 1865). Meanwhile, Charleston and 
Wilmington had been captured by Union forces : the Confederacy 
had lost its last seaports. 

About a week later (March 27, 1865) General Sherman, leaving 
his victorious army at Goldsboro (Map, p. 320), went to City Point,^ 
on the James River, Virginia, to consult with Grant. A month 
later (April 26, 1865) Johnston surrendered to Sherman near 
Raleigh, North Carolina. 

358. The End of the War ; Assassination of President Lincoln. 
Sheridan now made a raid south through the Shenandoah valley, 
in which he destroyed the railway and canal from Lynchburg, on 
the west of Richmond, nearly up to the Confederate capital. This 
had the effect of cutting off a large part of the provisions for Lee's 
army. Sheridan next (March 29, 1865) made a similar raid to the 
south of Richmond. Lee had now only 40,000 men to Grant's 
100,000. While the Confederate general was trying to guard 
against Sheridan, Grant threw his whole force on Petersburg 
(§§ 349, 352) and captured it (April 2, 1865). Lee retreated from 
Richmond, and the next day (April 3, 1865) Grant's forces entered 
the capital of the Southern Confederacy and raised the Stars and 
Stripes over the city. Jefferson Davis escaped to North Carolina, 

1 See Sherman's " Memoirs," II, 179. 2 city Point is 40 miles below Richmond. 



1865] ASSASSINATION OF PRESlDliNT LINCOLN 325 

but was captured in May and sent as a prisoner to Fort Monroe. 
He was released two years later.^ Lee's forces were completely 
broken up ; many of his men were so weak from want of food 
that they could not shoulder a musket. Lee surrendered to Grant 
at Appomattox Courthouse, a little place about seventy-five miles 
west of Richmond (April 9, 1865). Nothing could be more nobly 
generous than the terms given by General Grant to the defeated 
Confederates. The only conditions he demanded were that the 
men should lay down their arms and return to their homes. Those 
who had horses were permitted to take them with them ; for, as 
Grant remarked, they '' would need them for the plowing." 

Finally, General Grant issued an order to serve out 25,000 
rations of food to Lee's half -starved men. That meant that the 
strife was over, and that peace and brotherhood were restored. 
Five days afterward (April 14, 1865) General Anderson hoisted 
over Fort Sumter the identical flag under whose starry folds he 
had fought against Beauregard (§ 320). It was exactly four years 
to a day since the Confederates had won their first victory in 
the Civil War. 

Thus ended the great contest, which had cost in all probably 
over half a million of lives and thousands of millions of dollars.^ 
But the triumphant joy of those who had fought to save the 
Union was quenched in tears ; for on the evening following the 
celebration at Fort Sumter (April 14, 1865), the President was 
shot by an assassin.^ Many of those who had fought against him 
in the South wept at his death. He was the friend of every 

1 By the end of May all the Confederate forces had surrendered and disbanded. None of 
the leaders or men engaged in the War of Secession were brought to trial for having taken 
up arms against the national government; but Henry Wirz, the Swiss commandant at 
Andersonville, Georgia, was charged with cruel treatment of Union prisoners, and was tried 
and convicted by court-martial ; he was hanged November lo, 1865. 

2 The total war debt of the North was nearly ^3,000,000,000 ; this, however, represented 
but a part of the expense. The greatest number of men engaged in the Union armies at any 
one time was probably about 1,000,000. Colonel Livermore thinks that the Confederate 
forces engaged during the war (1861-1865) did not exceed 600,000. See Colonel T. L. Liver- 
more's " Numbers and Losses in the Civil War," p. 9. 

3 President Lincoln was shot at the theater by John Wilkes Booth, an obscure actor, who 
was the leader of a conspiracy for the assassination of the President, Vice President, the 
cabinet, and General Grant. Booth was pursued and shot, four of the other conspirators 
were hanged, and four imprisoned. 



326 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1865 

American ; none of us or of our children, North or South, will 
ever know a more unselfish or a truer man than Abraham Lincoln. 

359, The North and the South in the War. In the North there 
was sore anxiety for friends who might never return ; and sisters, 
wives, and mothers were mourning for those who had fallen on 
the battlefield or died in prison. In the South there was the same 
terrible loss of life, the same mourning for those who had left 
their homes never to return. The material privations and suffer- 
ings of the war fell mainly on the South. Except at Gettysburg 
all the fighting was done on Southern soil. No armies marched 
through the North. Two new states — West Virginia (1863) and 
Nevada (1864) — had been added to the Union. All business 
went on as usual, or^ with increased activity. Every seaport was 
open, and trade and commerce flourished. There were many 
quiet homes not directly touched by the hardships and horrors 
of the struggle, where the progress of the war was only known 
by newspaper reports. 

Thanks to the financial ability and the unfailing energy of Sec- 
retary Chase, the government never lacked means to carry on the 
contest. Whatever money could do for the equipment and com- 
fort of the Union forces was done without stint or murmur, even 
when the expenses exceeded ^3,500,000 a day. 

In addition to all this care for the men by the government, the 
Sanitary and the Christian Commissions were unwearied in their 
great work of love and mercy among the wounded and the sick. 
Once in hospital no one was ever asked on which side he had 
fought ; but tender hands ministered to his needs, and soothed 
his sufferings, whether he wore the '' blue " or the '' gray." 

With the people of the South all was different. Their ports 
were blockaded, their business ruined. The country had no money, 
no manufactures ; the negroes had been set free. In their extrem- 
ity Southern ladies cut up their carpets to make blankets and 
clothes for the soldiers, and churches gave their bells to be cast 
into cannon. Long before the final surrender there was grievous 
want everywhere throughout the South, and everywhere the people 
were suffering from the destruction necessarily caused by invading 



1865] SUMMARY 327 

armies or from the dread of such invasion. It is a noble evidence 
of the fortitude of the American character that the Southern people, 
however mistaken in their purpose, '' fought," as General Grant 
says, ''so bravely, so gallantly, and so long."^ 

360. Summary of the Fourth and Last Year of the War (April, 
1 864- April, 1865). This year was marked by Grant and Sherman's 
''hammering campaign," which ended in the destruction of the 
Confederate power in the west and in the east, and was followed 
by the surrender of Lee. President Lincoln was assassinated a 
few days later. The surrender of General J. E. Johnston,^ soon 
after, ended the war, and established the Union on a solid founda- 
tion of freedom for all men. 

1 See General Grant's " Personal Memoirs," II, 426. 

2 In his last orders to his troops, General J. E. Johnston said: " I earnestly expect you 
to observe faithfully the terms of pacification agreed upon, and to discharge the obligations 
of good and peaceful citizens as well as you have performed the duties of thorough soldiers 
in the field." Like a brave officer, Johnston led the way in the execution of this order by his 
own example. He died March 21, i8gi, shortly after he had acted as pallbearer at the funeral 
of his friend, General W. T. Sherman. 



IX 

" America is another word for Opportunity." — R. W. Emerson's Essay 
on A7nerica7i Civilization. 



RECONSTRUCTION — THE NEW NATION^ 

(1865 TO THE Present Time) 
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN POWER 

361. Difficulty of President Johnson's Task; the Grand Review; 
disbanding the Armies. The untimely death of President Lincoln 
(§358) made Andrew Johnson ^ the head of the nation.^ The 
position to which the new President was thus suddenly called, was 
peculiarly hard and trying ; for if the great heart of Lincoln had 
to bear the sad burden of four years of civil war, his successor 
had to undertake the delicate and difficult work of reconstruction, 
— that is, of restoring the seceded states to their former places 
in the Union. 

Now that the war was over, the first thing to be done was to 
disband the Union army, numbering more than a million soldiers. 

1 Reference Books. W. Wilsons "Division and Reunion," ch. 11-13; W. C. 
Bryant and Gay's " United States" (revised edition), V, ch. 21-31 ; A. B. Hart's 
"American History by Contemporaries," IV, ch. 23-34 ; A. B. Hart's " Source 
Book," ch. 19-21 ; W. A. Dunning's " Reconstruction"; E. E. Sparks' "National 
Development"; D. R. Dewey's " National Problems"; J. H. Latane's "America 
the World Power"; A. B. Hart's "Ideals of American Government"; J. W. 
Garner's and Lodge's " United States," III, ch. 35, and IV, ch. 36-45 ; E. B. 
Andrews' " The United States in Our Time." See also the classified List of 
Books in the Appendix. 

2 Andrew Johnson was bom at Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1808 ; died, 1S75. He learned 
the tailor's trade and moved to Greenville, Tennessee. He never attended school, but was 
entirely self-educated. He was elected to Congress in 1843 by the Democrats, and to the 
United States Senate in 1857. When the Civil War broke out he took a decided stand 
against secession. In 1862 President Lincoln appointed him military governor of Tennessee. 
On Lincoln's second election to the presidency by the Republicans, Johnson was elected 
Vice President. 

3 See the Constitution, Article II, Section i, Paragraph 6. 

328 



18G5] 



THE GRAND REVIEW 



329 



But multitudes wished to see the brave men who had fought to. 
save the nation ; and late in May a grand review of Grant's and 
of Sherman's troops took place in Washington. 

For the first time since the beginning of the war the trium- 
phant armies of the east and of the west were united. During 
the greater part of two days (May 23, 24, 1865) the broad avenue 
from the Capitol to the White House resounded with martial 
music, and with the strong, steady tread of a column of men over 
thirty miles long. The march of these seemingly endless regi- 
ments of sunburnt veterans, bearing their glittering muskets and 



I 




The Capitol at Washington 



their tattered, smoke-stained battle flags, festooned with flowers, was 
a magnificent sight. No such spectacle had ever been seen before 
in America ; as one enthusiastic officer declared, '' It was worth ten 
years of a man's life for him to be able to say, ' I was there.' " 

But grand as the display was, something grander was to come ; 
that was the fact that in the course of a few weeks all these men, 
with many hundreds of thousands more,^ laid down their arms 
and went quietly to their homes. Neither on the Northern nor 
on the Southern side was there a single act of lawlessness to stain 
their proud record as soldiers and Americans. 

1 About 50,000 men were kept as a standing army, to preserve order ; all the other Union 
troops were disbanded. The number of Confederates disbanded was about 175,000. 



330 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY . [1865 

362. What the War Settled. The war settled three things : 

1. It "extinguished secession" as completely as water extin- 
guishes a flame of fire. Henceforth it was understood that the 
Union could not be broken. On this point the Constitution 
received a final and unmistakable interpretation. In the words 
of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 
(1868), the American Republic is "an indestructible Union com- 
posed of indestructible states." The war established the suprem- 
acy of the national government beyond all question ; but more 
than this, it made every heart feel that we are one nation and 
have a common destiny. It fixed in the minds of the people the 
great thought expressed by Daniel Webster : " Liberty and Union, 
now and forever, one and inseparable " (§ 268). 

2. The war made the negro free — that was an advantage to 
every one, white or black. North or South ; for free labor only is 
intelligent and profitable. 

3. The manner in which the result was accepted on both sides 
was itself a benefit. General Grant showed a magnanimity that 
has had no parallel. General Lee had fought with all his might ; 
he was in the wrong ; he applied to the government for a pardon, 
as an example- to his men. He said : " Remember that we are one 
country now. Do not bring up your children in hostility to the gov- 
ernment of the United States. Bring them up to be Americans." 

363. The President's Proclamation of Pardon; the Contest be- 
tween Congress and the President. President Johnson issued a 
proclamation of pardon (May 29, 1865) to the greater part of the 
people of the seceded states on condition that they would swear 
to "faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution and 
the Union." A majority of the inhabitants of those states took 
the oath. They furthermore bound themselves to accept the Thir- 
teenth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibited slavery 
(§ 340), and they agreed never to demand payment of any part of 
the Southern war debt. 

Now came the question whether these states should be at once 
permitted to send representatives to Congress. The President said, 
Yes ; but a majority in Congress said. No. The reason foi this 



1865-1867] MILITARY GOVERNMENT 33 1 

denial was that the greater part of Congress beUeved that it would 
not be safe to restore the southern states to their full political 
rights until more was done to protect the negroes, or ''freedmen," 
as they were now called, in the enjoyment of their new liberty. 

From this time forward the President and Congress were en- 
gaged in bitter strife with each other. Congress refused to re- 
admit the southern states, and passed several bills ^ in favor of the 
*'freedmen," one of which made them citizens,^ another gave them 
military protection, while a third granted them power to vote in 
the District of Columbia. The President believed that the South 
would deal fairly by the " freedmen," and he therefore vetoed these 
bills ; Congress then passed them over his veto.^ 

364. Congress puts the Southern States under Military Gov- 
ernment; the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. In 
the spring (1867) Congress passed another bill over the Presi- 
dent's veto. This was the First Reconstruction Act.^ The new 
law divided the South into districts, each of which was to be gov- 
erned by a military governor. The ''freedmen" were given the 
right to vote, but that right was denied to all those white inhab- 
itants who had taken a prominent part in the war against the 
Union. Each state was to continue under this form of govern- 
ment until the people of the states — black as well as white — 
should form a government accepting the Fourteenth Amendment 
to the Constitution. 

That amendment, enacted by Congress in i866,^to supplement 
the Thirteenth Amendment (§ 340), declared the negro a citizen ; 
it made it a great disadvantage to a state to deny him the right to 
vote or to hold office ; finally it shut out the chief white men of 
the South, who had taken part in the war, from holding any high 

1 Namely the Civil Rights Bill, the Supplementary Freedmen's Bureau Bill, and the 
District of Columbia Franchise Bill. See W. Macdonald's "Select Statutes ^ (1861-1898), 
pp.141, 147, 154. 

2 By making the " freedmen " citizens, Congress (by the Civil Rights Bill, March, 1866) 
gave them the right to protection under the laws of the United States, with power to use 
the courts to sue for the payment of debts and the like. 

3 In case the President vetoes a bill (that is, refuses to sign it, and returns it to Con- 
gress), Congress may pass the bill without the President's signature, providing two thirds 
of the members vote for it. See the Constitution, Article I, Section 7, Paragraph 2. 

4 See W. Macdonald's " Select Statutes " (1861-1898), p. 156. 5 Ratified in 1868. 



332 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1866-1867 

office.^ When these conditions should be accepted, but not before, 
the southern states might send representatives to Congress. 

Tennessee, President Johnson's state, having fulfilled all the 
conditions required, had been readmitted (1866). 

365. Six States readmitted; Negro Legislators and "Carpet- 
baggers.** 2 Six states accepted these conditions;^ four refused 
but accepted them later (1870). In some of the restored states, 
especially in South Carolina, there were more negroes than white 
men. The negroes got control of these states. They had been 
slaves all their lives, and were so ignorant that they did not even 
know the letters of the alphabet. Yet they now sat in the state 
legislatures and made the laws. After the war many industrious 
Northern men settled in the South, but, besides these, certain 
greedy adventurers, nicknamed '' Carpetbaggers," went there eager 
to get political office and political spoils. These '' Carpetbaggers " 
used the ignorant '' freedmen " as tools to carry out their own selfish 
purposes. Working with the negro legislators, they plundered the 
states that had the misfortune to be subject to their rule. ^ 

After a time the white population throughout the South resolved 
that they would no longer endure this state of things. Partly by 
peaceable and partly by violent means they succeeded in getting 
the political power into their own hands, and the reign of the 
" Carpetbagger " and the negro came to an end. 

366. Congress impeaches the President; Proclamation of Full 
and Unconditional Pardon ; the Fifteenth Amendment. Meanwhile, 
the quarrel between Congress and the President (§ 363) was growing 

1 See the Constitution — Amendments, Article XIV. The Fourteenth Amendment further- 
more required the South to repudiate its war debt and to agree to the payment of the Union 
war debt. 

2 " Carpetbaggers " : a nickname given by Southerners to Northern adventurers who went 
South after the war (with no baggage or property except a carpetbag) for the purpose of 
getting office, and plunder. Those Southerners who joined the " Carpetbaggers " in their 
schemes were nicknamed " Scalawags." 

3 The six states which accepted (and were readmitted June, 1868) were Alabama, 
Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South CaroHna. Georgia, Mississippi, 
Texas, and Virginia remained out until 1870. 

4 In 1868 the total debt of South Carolina was about ^5,000,000. Under four years of 
" Carpetbag " government, or rather misgovemment, the debt was increased to no less 
than ^30,000, 000. Much of the debt represented simply what was stolen from the people 
of the state. 



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TERRITORIAL GROWTH OF THE 

UIVITED STATES 

ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT 
1776 to the present time 



SCALE OF MILES 



from 92 ° Greenwich 



1807-1809] CONGRESS IMPEACHES THE PRESIDENT 333 

more and more serious. The President was not only determined 
to have his own way, but also to remove from office those who did 
not agree with him. Congress now passed the Tenure of Office 
Act (1867).! It forbade his dismissing even the members of his 
own cabinet or private council without the consent of the Senate. 

The President denied the power of Congress to make such a 
law, and he removed Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, who 
had been appointed by President Lincoln. For this refusal to 
obey the Tenure of Officie Act Congress proceeded (1868) to 
impeach 2 the President. On his trial thirty-five senators voted 
'' guilty " and nineteen '' not guilty " ; as this was one less than 
the two-thirds' vote required to convict him, President Johnson 
was acquitted. A single vote more against him would have 
removed him from the presidency. 

On the Christmas following (1868) the President issued a 
proclamation of full and unconditional pardon to all persons who 
had taken part in the war against the Union. 

Early in the year following (1869) Congress passed the Fif- 
teenth Amendment to the Constitution. It was ratified by the 
states in 1870.^ The Thirteenth Amendment (passed 1865) 
made the negro free (§ 340), the Fourteenth Amendment (passed 
1866) made him a citizen (§ 364), the Fifteenth finished the work 
and made him a voUr. All these great changes had taken place 
within the short space of four years ! 

But since then (1890- 1908) the greater part of the southern 
states have passed laws which practically take away the negro's 
power to vote in those states. For this reason the Fifteenth 
Amendment has at present no real force at the South (§ 409). 

1 See W. Macdonald's "Select Statutes" (1861-1898), p. 160. The principal features of 
the act were repealed in 1869, and the remainder of it in 1887. 

2 Impeach the President: to bring him to trial. The House of Representatives makes 
the charges and the Senate tries the case — the Chief Justice presiding. See the Constitu- 
tion, Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 5 ; and Section 3, Paragraph 6. As only part of the south- 
em states had been readmitted, the number of senators was then but 54. 

3 See the Constitution — Amendments, Article XV. The Thirteenth Amendment was 
passed by Congress under Lincoln in 1865. It was ratified by the required number of three 
fourths of the states in December of that year, after Johnson had become President. 

The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were passed by Congress during Johnson's 
presidency, but the last was not ratified until 1870, after Grant had become President 



334 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



367. The Atlantic Telegraph Cable. These political events were 
not the only ones in which the country was interested. Professor 
Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, had predicted (§ 284) that 
the time would come when messages would be sent across the sea 
by electricity. 

Cyrus W. Field of New York formed a company to accomplish 
this work by laying a wire cable on the bottom of the Adantic, 
between Great Britain and the United States. The company lost 
several millions of dollars in attempting to do this, though they 
succeeded in laying a cable (1858) by which messages were sent 
for a few weeks. Not to be discouraged, Mr. Field formed a 

new company, and raised more 
money for the work. This time 
(1866) he was entirely success- 
ful, and established a perma- 
nent telegraphic line beneath 
the sea, between the Old World 
and the New. 

A number of additional elec- 
tric cables have since been laid 
across the Atlantic. The re- 
sult is that every important 
event which occurs in Europe 
or in the United States is printed in the papers of both countries 
on the same day and often at the same hour. 

We shall see (§ 428) that many years later (1902) an American 
company laid a telegraphic cable across the Pacific. 

368. Our Sixth Step in Expansion, — Purchase of Alaska ; Pay- 
ment of the National Debt. The next year (1867), just after Ne- 
braska entered the Union, we purchased from Russia the territory of 
Alaska, embracing more than 590,000 square miles. We paid a 
little over ^7,000,000 for it, or less than what four days of war had 
sometimes cost us. This addition to our territory was the sixth step 
in our progress of national expansion (§ 294). It raised the total 
area of the United States then to about 3,600,000 square miles, thus 
making it nearly equal to that of all the countries of Europe united. 




Landing One End of the Atlantic 
Cable 



1867-1869] SUMMARY 335 

Secretary Seward persuaded Congress to make this purchase, 
in order to extend our power on the Pacific coast. Many Con- 
gressmen thought it was a waste of money, and one called Alaska 
"the refrigerator of the United States." But it has proved itself 
to be a very profitable '' refrigerator." Its furs, forests, fish, and 
mineral deposits are of immense value ; and many millions in gold 
have been taken from the Yukon and Klondike districts. 

Besides buying this new territory the national government be- 
gan to pay off the great Civil War debt, amounting to nearly 
$3,000,000,000,1 — ^ g^Jy^ 5Q enormous that in the longest life- 
time a person counting out the dollars one by one, at the rate of 
sixty a minute, could not get through even a third of it. 

Before all the soldiers had been sent home we had paid off 
over $30,000,000. Since then we have paid nearly $1,200,000,000 
more. Had we continued to reduce our debt at the same rate 
we should have wiped it out in about fourteen years. No country 
in Europe ever voluntarily settled such a debt. To-day our credit 
stands as high as that of any nation on the globe. 

369. Summary. During President Johnson's administration six 
of the seceded states were readmitted to the Union ; but Congress 
and the President did not agree, and Congress attempted by im- 
peachment to remove the President from office. 

Three amendments to the Constitution — namely, the Thir- 
teenth, Fourteenth, arid Fifteenth — were made during Mr. John- 
son's presidency, though the last one was not ratified by the states 
until the incoming of the next administration. The first declared 
the negro free, the second made him a citizen, the third, a voter. 

The other important events were : ( i ) the full pardon of all 
persons who had fought against the Union ; (2) the beginning of 
the payment of the national debt ; (3) the laying of the Atlantic 
cable ; (4) the purchase of Alaska. 

1 The actual national war debt was $2,750,000,000. This debt was greatly increased by 
our war with Spain (1898), so that at the close of 1907, notwithstanding all we had paid, it 
was nearly ^2,500,000,000, and on June 30, 1915, it was ^3,225,734,627 



336 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

Ulysses S. Grant (Republican)^ 

370. Grant's Administration (Eighteenth President, Two Terms, 
1869-1877); Completion of the Pacific Railway; what Railways 
and Telegraphs have done for the Union. Before the great Civil 
War broke out the people of California resolved to have a direct 
overland mail to the East, instead of that by the slow and circuitous 
route through Arizona. Accordingly a pony express started (i860) 
to carry letters between Sacramento and St. Joseph, Missouri, by 
way of Salt Lake City. This was followed by a telegraph line 
(1861). Next, a daily line of stagecoaches for both passengers 
and letters was put on the same route (1861). When Indians 
attacked these coaches there was wild work. It was a race for life 
and a fight for life. But this means of communication was too 
slow, and a number of enterprising Eastern and Western men 
resolved to build a railway across the continent to the Pacific. 

A little more than two months after General Grant became 
President, the last spike of the last rail of the new road was 
driven at Ogden, Utah (1869), The blows of the sledge hammer 
which drove that spike — completing the greatest work of the 
kind then in the world — were telegraphed, as they fell, through- 
out the Union. 2 

Congress granted a tract of land in alternate sections, twenty 
miles wide, extending from Omaha to San Francisco in aid of this 
national enterprise. During the previous thirty-five years the gov- 
ernment gave to road, canal, and railway corporations public lands 

1 General Ulysses S. Grant of Illinois (Schuyler Colfax of Indiana, Vice President) was 
elected President by the Republicans in 1868, over Governor Horatio Seymour of New York 
and Francis P. Blair of Missouri, the Democratic candidates. He was reelected in 1872 
(Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, Vice President), over Horace Greeley of New York and 
B. Gratz Brown of Missouri, the candidates of the Liberal Republicans and the greater part 
of the Democrats united. 

2 The Union Pacific Railway, begun during the Civil War, was built westward from 
Omaha on the Missouri to Ogden, Utah, a distance of 1000 miles ; there it met and con- 
nected with the Central Pacific Railway, which was pushed through at the same time from 
San Francisco, a distance of 878 miles. The total distance from New York to San Fran- 
cisco is 3322 miles. The Northern and the Southern Pacific, the Great Northern, the 
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe, the Milwaukee and Puget Sound, and the Rock Island, 
Rio Grande, and Western Pacific Railways have since been built, making seven transcon- 
tinental lines in the United States, but some of these have been consolidated. 



COMPLETION OF THE PACIFIC RAILWAY 



337 



nearly equal in area to that of the thirteen original states as 
they now stand. 

Between Omaha and San Francisco the railway crosses nine 
mountain ranges, including the Rockies and the Sierras, climbing, 
and then descending, over 8000 feet. In point of time, it is now no 
farther from New York to San Francisco than it was in the days of 
the Revolution from New York to Boston. Then it took our fore- 
fathers between five and six days to go by wagon somewhat less 
than 250 miles ; now, in that time we can cross the entire continent. 




The First Pacific Railway 



The result of this rapid means of travel is of the greatest im- 
portance to the republic. Once members of Congress laughed at 
the idea that California and Oregon would be added to the United 
States. They said that it would be practically impossible for such 
states, if added, to send representatives to the national capital, 
because it would take them the greater part of the year to get 
to Washington and back. For that reason they believed that 
the people who settled the Pacific coast would form a separate 
and independent republic' The railway and the telegraph have 
changed all that. They have connected the farthest extremities 
of the country so closely that they have made it possible for us 
to extend and maintain the Union from ocean to ocean. 



338 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1869- 



371. Effect of the Pacific Railway on Commerce with Asia, and 
on the Growth of the Far West ; the Homestead Act. But this is 
not all. The building of the Pacific Railway entirely changed our 
relations with Asia. Teas, spices, and silks formerly reached us 
from China and from the East Indies by ships sailing round Cape 
Horn. Goods might be five or six months 
coming that immense distance. Now many 
of these goods come direct, by steamer, to 
San Francisco and Seattle, and are then 
sent, by rail, to the east. In a little over a 
month from the time a cargo of tea leaves 
China, it can be delivered in New York. 
The old navigators spent their lives in try- 
ing to find a direct, western route to Asia 
(§ 16) ; we have found it, though in a totally 
different way from what they expected. 

Last of all, and most important as well as 
last, the Pacific Railway, and the lines since 
built, have opened not only the Central 
West, but the Far West, — as the region 
west of .the Rocky Mountains is called. 
Steam has enabled a peaceful army of 
thrifty emigrants to reach that section easily, 
quickly, and cheaply. The unexplored re- 
gion that a little more than a generation 
ago was given up to wild beasts and savages 
is now rapidly filling with population. 

The liberal land laws of the United 
States greatly encouraged this movement. 
From 1830 to 1862 actual settiers on the 
public lands had the first right to buy 160 acres at the very low 
price of $1.25 per acre. This power gave the farmer a great 
advantage, because it made him independent in large measure 
of speculators and other would-be purchasers. 

Next (1862) Congress passed the Homestead Act. That meas- 
ure made a present of 160 acres to every settler on government 




Where Some of our 
Western Railways 
go — Animas Can- 
yon, Colorado 



1869-] 



WESTERN FARMS AND RANCHES 



339 




A Western Ranch or Cattle Farm 



land on condition that he built himself 
a home and proceeded to cultivate and improve the soil. The 
Western emigrant's song declaring that " Uncle Sam is rich enough 
to give us all a farm," then became a fact, though it cannot remain 
a fact much longer, ^ It induced scores of thousands to cross the 
Mississippi. Their labor has transformed the country where they 
settled. Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and the newer states west 
and north of them, that were once treeless deserts or vast stretches 
of uncleared and uncultivated wilderness, are to-day covered with 
grain fields and fruit orchards. 

Denver and many other prosperous cities and towns in neigh- 
boring states have sprung up in places where, when Grant became 
President, there were often, at the most, only a few rude cabins 
made of sods or logs, or a few '' dugouts," excavated in the sides 
of the hills. Thus within the short period of about thirty years 
the railways of the West have entirely changed that part of the 
republic. They have converted what was once a broad extent of 
unoccupied territory — sometimes seemingly barren and worthless 
— into groups of rapidly growing commonwealths, rich in mines 
of precious metals, rich in farms, in ranches, and industries of 
every kind. 

Some of these farms, in the Far West, exhibit stock raising 
and agriculture on a scale never seen before, for they embrace 



1 The area of farming land which the government now holds for disposition under the 
Homestead Act is diminishing rapidly, and in a very short time " Uncle Sam " will have no 
more to give away. On the other hand, the National Irrigation Act of 1902 has enabled 
the government to fertilize millions of acres of desert land by irrigation. The expense of 
the improvement is met by the sale of public lands, and settlers can obtain irrigated farms 
on condition that they pay for the water used. Recently more than 10,000 families have 
taken such farms in the Far West and are raising highly profitable crops on soil that a little 
while ago was simply " dust and ashes." 



340 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1870-1871 



from 5000 to 40,000 acres each, and have 50,000 head of cattle 
or sheep. There are single wheat fields of 13,000 acres, and 
single farms which extend for many miles, — covered as far as 
the eye can see, with one mass of grain rolling in golden waves. 
These are the kind of farms on which thirty-three horse har- 
vesters, steam plows, and steam harvesters are in use (§ 303). 

372. Completion of Reconstruction ; the Weather Bureau ; Great 
Fires; the ^*Boss** Tweed **Ring.'* The reconstruction of the 
southern states was completed in 1870; and in January of the 



,P 










Copyright, Underwood & Underwood 

A Thirty-Three Horse Harvester 

following year (1871) all the states ''were represented in Con- 
gress for the first time since December, i860." The disastrous 
effects of negro voting in South Carolina and some other states 
where the ''freedmen" were in the majority (§365) caused violent 
resistance on the part of the white inhabitants. A secret society 
known as the K71 Khix Klan was organized in various parts of 
the South to prevent the negroes from voting. Congress passed 
the "Force Bill" (1871) to give military protection to the black 



1871-1873] "RINGS" AND THEIR WORK 34 1 

man ^ (repealed, 1 894). Experience has since proved that the negro 
can protect himself best by advancing in education and in habits of 
industry. It has already been mentioned (§ 366) that a number of 
southern states have practically abolished the African American's 
right to vote, but the fact remains that the negro, like the white 
man, still has the liberty to make himself what he chooses. That 
noted colored educator, Booker T. Washington, once said that 
he would rather be an " American negro " than a white man.^ 

Another important work accomplished by Congress (1870) was 
the establishment of the Weather Bureau. This department has its 
headquarters at Washington, with branches in all the principal cities. 

Its object is to give information of approaching storms and 
changes of weather. It has been the means of saving the coun- 
try from heavy losses both by land and sea. 

The next autumn (1871) a great fire broke out in Chicago, 
which destroyed about 18,000 buildings valued at ^200,000,000. 
During the same season terrible forest fires caused great destruc- 
tion in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The year following 
(1872) a conflagration consumed business property in Boston worth 
about ^80,000,000. These losses greatly aggravated the panic 
which followed soon afterward (1873) (§ 373). Our losses by fire 
r\ow average more than ^600,000 a day for every day in the year. 

In New York City it was discovered that "Boss" Tweed, one 
of the commissioners of public works, had been guilty, in connec- 
tion with other city officers, of a series of stupendous frauds. In 
the course of years this "ring," as it was called, robbed the city 
of many millions, — so many, in fact, that it would have been 
cheaper to have had a great fire like that of Chicago or Boston 
than to have kept these men in power. Eventually the "ring" 
was broken up, and Tweed died in Ludlow Street Jail. 

373. New Coinage Act; Business Panic, 1873; Centennial Ex- 
hibition ; the Telephone ; Use of Electricity ; the Aeroplane. Dur- 
ing the Civil War, and for many years afterward, paper money 

1 See W. Macdonald's " Select Statutes" (1861-1898), p. 249. 

2 See Booker T. Washington's " The American Negro of To-day," in Putnam's Mo7tthly, 
October, 1907, p. 70. 



342 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1873-1876 

was the only kind generally in use throughout the country (§ 324). 
Silver dollars had practically disappeared largely because people 
found dollar bills more convenient to carry than the heavier money, 
and although smaller silver coins were common, they, of course, 
could only be used for making trifling purchases and for " change." 

For these reasons Congress passed a new Coinage Act (1873) 
which dropped " the silver dollar of our fathers " (§ 202) and 
ordered the United States mints not to issue any money for use 
at home^ but gold pieces, small silver, and coppers. 

The Coinage Act attracted hardly any attention at the time, but 
a few years later a great outcry was raised against the measure 
and Congress was forced to restore the silver dollar (§ 379). 

The year 1873 was also memorable as the date of the begin- 
ning of a great business panic which ruined a multitude of people. 
One reason for the outbreak of the trouble was that the success 
of the first Pacific Railway (§ 371) led to the building of more 
western railways than the country then needed. 

Thousands of men believed that by speculation they could get 
rich at locomotive speed, but their plans ended (as in 1837 and 
1857) (§§275, 312)- in a terrible crash. Even the United States 
government felt so pinched for money that it stopped making 
payments on the war debt for a time, and all work on public 
buildings came to a standstill. The country did not fully recover 
from the " hard times " for five or six years. 

A leading feature of the celebration of the anniversary of the 
One Hundredth Year of the Independence of the United States 
was the opening of the Centennial Exhibition in Fairmount Park, 
Philadelphia (1876). The principal buildings covered a total space 
of about seventy-five acres. All the nations of the world sent 
products of their industry or their art to be exhibited ; but, as 
in the World's Fair of 1853 (§ 303), our own country again took 
the lead in the display of useful inventions. The Exhibition 
showed what a great change had taken place in the mode of 
doing most kinds of work. In Washington's day, and for many 

1 The new Coinage Act provided, however, for the coinage of " trade dollars " to be 
employed in our commerce with China where silver was the only currency generally in use. 



187G-] 



THE ELECTRIC LIGHT AND TELEPHONE 



343 



years later, nearly everything was done by hand ; but by the time 
we had reached our hundredth birthday an industrial revolution 
had taken place. Arms of iron and fingers of steel now per- 
formed the labor. The duty of the workman since that period 
has been mainly to guide and superintend a machine which is his 
willing, tireless servant. One such machine, for instance, an electric 
printing press (§ 303), can often do more 
in a single hour than a man, working 
with his hands alone, could do in a week 
— or in a number of weeks. 

Since the Exhibition, machines have 
multiplied with greater rapidity than ever. 
7'hree of the most remarkable novelties 
then exhibited were the electric light, the 
first practical typewriter, and an instru- 
ment invented by Professor A. G. Bell 
of Boston, which we know to-day as the 
telephone. Professor Morse enabled men 
to send written messages to each other by 
electricity (§ 284) ; Professor Bell, going a 
step farther, enabled them to talk together 
in the same way. To-day cities sepa- 
rated by the entire breadth of the Ameri- 
can continent are brought within 
speaking distance of each other. 
■ More wonderful still, persons 
many miles apart have telephoned 
to each other without using any 
condu'cting wires. They simply 
speak through the air. In time 

this new method promises to become a practical success like 
wireless telegraphy (§ 428). 

Of late years the application of electricity to the service of man 
has made rapid progress in many ways. It rings fire-alarms, signals 
the approach of trains, shows us moving pictures, speaks and sings 
to us through the phonograph, drives various kinds of machinery, 




Race between an Automobile 
AND AN Airship 



344 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1876 

propels cars over thousands of miles of street and country railways, 
and is used on some automobiles. It is also beginning to take the 
place of the locomotive on steam railways (§ 435), and it drives 
several of our largest battleships. Because of these things we 
named our century the '' Electric Age." 

But now, not satisfied with speeding over the astonished earth in 
automobiles or rushing through the water in motor-boats, we shoot 
through the sky in aeroplanes, invented by the Wright brothers 
of Ohio, in 1903. On May 27, 1919, Commander A. C. Read, 
an officer in our navy, did what no man ever did before. He, 
with four other Americans, finished his flight across the Atlantic 
from Long Island to Lisbon, in an airship built to swim as well 
as fly.^ This new kind of navigation adds a word to the name of 
our century, and makes it the *' Aerial, Electric Age." 

374. A very Important Decision ; Indian Wars ; Colorado. 
Meanwhile a number of persons chosen by us and by Great 
Britain to act as judges ^ met in Switzerland (1871) to decide 
an old controversy. They decreed that England should pay the 
United States ^15,500,000 for damages done by the Alabama 
and other Confederate warships built in England (§ 329). This 
peaceable settlement was an honor to both England and America. 

At home we had disputes with bands of Western Indians, which 
were not settled so easily. Our government wanted to buy the 
hunting grounds held by the Modocs in Oregon and by the Sioux 
in Dakota, and to give them land in the Indian Territory. But 
these tribes had little faith in the promises of white mgi. They 
resolved to fight rather than move. General Custer, one of the 
bravest of our officers, was sent to deal with the Sioux warriors. 
The Indians had about ten men to his one. Custer fought des- 
perately, but he and every one of his force were killed on the spot 
(1876). Later, the government made peace with the Indians. 

In the same year (1876) Colorado entered the Union as the 
" Centennial State." 

1 Commander Read flew from Rockaway Beach, near Brooklyn, New York, to Halifax, 
then to Newfoundland, then to the Azores, and then to Lisbon. The total distance was 
estimated at 3470 miles. His actual flying time was reported at about 49 hours ; his average 
speed was 70 miles an hour. (See p. 411.) 2 They formed a Court of Arbitration. 



im] HAYES' ADMINISTRATION 345 

375. The Disputed Presidential Election (1876). In the Pres- 
idential election (1876) Mr. Hayes, the Republican candidate, 
received a majority of one of the electoral votes ^ over his oppo- 
nent, Samuel J. Tilden, the Democratic candidate. The Demo- 
crats maintained that the election had not been fairly conducted 
and that Mr. Tilden had really received a majority of the votes for 
President. No such dispute had ever arisen before, and it filled the 
whole country with alarm. In order to settle this dangerous con- 
troversy Congress appointed an Electoral Commission to decide 
the matter. It was composed of ten members of Congress and 
five justices of the United States Supreme Court. The Commis- 
sion finally decided in favor of Mr. Hayes by a vote of 8 to 7. 

376. Summary. President Grant's administration was marked 
(i) by the completion of the first railway across the continent; 
(2) by the admission to Congress of representatives of all the 
seceded states ; (3) by a very important treaty with England ; 
{4) by terrible fires West and East, which destroyed property 
worth many millions of dollars ; (5) by a new coinage act which 
dropped the silver dollar from our coins ; (6) by a severe business 
panic ; (7) by the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, and by 
the disputed presidential election of 1876. 

Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) 

377. Hayes* Administration (Nineteenth President, One Term, 
1877-1881); Withdrawal of Troops from the South; the First 
Great Labor Strike. President Hayes ^ believed that there would 
never be permanent peace at the South until the people of that 
section were allowed to manage their own affairs without the inter- 
ference of the national government. He therefore withdrew the 

1 See the Constitution, Article II, Section i, Paragraphs 1-4. 

2 Rutherford B. Hayes was bom in Ohio in 1822. He studied law, and settled in Cin- 
cinnati, During the Civil War he became a brigadier general in the Union army. After the 
war he was twice elected governor of Ohio. In 1876 he was elected President by the Repub- 
licans (William A. Wheeler of New York, Vice President) over Samuel J. Tilden of New 
York and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, the Democratic candidates. Mr. Hayes had 
but one more of the electoral votes than his opponent. On the dispute which followed 
see § 375. 



346 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1877 

United States troops from that part of the country, trusting tliat 
the whites and the blacks would come to an understanding between 
themselves. From that time forward the '' solid South " — that is, 
the solid white vote of the South — got the control, and the negro 
ceased to govern (§ 365). The whole country was glad that the 
strife was over, and although many Republicans condemned the 
President's action, the majority of the people heartily approved it. 

In the summer (1877), the first great historic labor strike in 
America occurred. The employees of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railway refused to work on account of a threatened reduction 
of. wages. The strike spread to several states and more than 
100,000 railway men went out. At Pittsburg serious riots 
occurred. A mob set fire to railway freight houses, machine 
shops, and other buildings, thereby destroying property worth 
many millions. Order was not finally restored until the President 
sent troops to Pittsburg to prevent further destruction. ^ 

378. Deepening the Chief Mouth of the Mississippi. During Pres- 
ident Hayes' administration the attention of Congress was partic- 
ularly called to the condition of the Mississippi below New Orleans. 
That great river is constantly bringing down vast quantities of sand 
and mud, which gradually fill up the mouths of the stream. 

These sand bars finally blocked the passage to such an extent 
that large and heavily loaded ships could pass over them only with 
the greatest difficulty. On one occasion more than fifty vessels 
were seen waiting for an opportunity to get to sea. Sometimes 
they were delayed there for days, or weeks, even, and had at last 
to hire tugboats, at great expense, to tow them through. 

Finally (1875), Captain Eads of St. Louis, the builder of the 
great steel arch bridge across the Mississippi at that point, under- 
took to open the '' South Pass," which is one of the five mouths 
of the great river. His plan, though not new, was most ingenious. 
He had noticed that where the river was narrow the current was 
strong, and so deposited but little mud to fill up the channel. He 
said to himself. By building new banks on each side, near the 

1 See Carroll D. Wright on Historic Strikes, in the North American Review, June, 1902 • 
and E. B. Andrews' "The United States in Our Time." 



1878-1879] "DOLLAR OF OUR FATHERS" RESTORED 347 

mouth of the river, I can narrow the channel and increase the 
force of the current to such a degree that it will carry all the sand 
and mud out to sea. Then when the bar is dredged through it 
will never form again. 

Congress gave him permission to try the experiment. He set 
to work, and in four years proved the truth of his idea (1879). 
Since then, the Mississippi, like a well-behaved river, has swept 
out its own channel, and large ocean steamers can pass up to 
New Orleans, or out to sea, without difficulty or expense. Cap- 
tain Eads' great work has been of immense benefit, for the export 
commerce of New Orleans is the largest of any city in America 
except New York.^ 

379. The Government restores the ** Dollar of our Fathers'*; 
"Greenbacks** become as Good as Gold. We have seen (§ 373) 
that Congress dropped the silver dollar from our coins (1873). 
Many people, especially Western and Southern farmers who were 
pressed for money, demanded that the government should restore 
'' the dollar of our fathers." The Western silver-mine owners 
joined in the cry for '' the free and unlimited coinage of silver." 
Congress would not grant that, but passed a bill restoring the 
silver dollar (i878).2 President Hayes promptly vetoed it. He 
said that the market value, by weight, of a standard silver dollar 
was then only about ninety-two cents. On this account he held 
that it would be a dishonest act for the government to issue such 
a coin. But a majority in Congress believed that silver would rise 
in value and they passed the bill over his veto.^ The Treasury 
Department then began buying silver by the car load, and the 
mint began turning out silver dollars by the ton. 

The paper money called '' greenbacks," ^ which the government 
first issued during the Civil War, and with which it paid part 

1 For an interesting account of Captain Eads' work, see Scribner^s Magazine, Vol. XIX, 
"The Mississippi Jetties" (illustrated). In 1908 the Southwest Pass was deepened. 

2 This was the Bland-Allison Silver Purchase and Coinage Act. It required the Secretary of 
the Treasury to purchase from ^2,000,000 to $4,000,000 worth of silver every month and coin it 
into standard dollars. This act continued in force for twelve years, during which time nearly 
$400,000,000 in silver dollars were coined and stored in the Treasury vaults at Washington. 

3 See the Constitution, Article I, Section 7, Paragraph 2. 

■* A name derived from the color of the backs of the bills (§ 324). 



348 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1879-1881 

of its enormous expenses, was worth less than gold. At one time 
(summer of 1864) it took nearly three dollars in *' greenbacks " 
to purchase as much as a single dollar in gold would buy. That 
meant that the people then had so little confidence in the power 
of the government to do as it agreed that its paper promise of pay- 
ment stamped ''one dollar" was worth only about thirty-five cents. 

But after the war, when the government began to pay off its 
debt, the feeling changed. Then this paper money rose in value, 
until at last a '' greenback " dollar would buy quite as much as a 
gold dollar. 

Finally, on New Year's Day (1879), the Treasurer of the United 
States stood ready to give gold coin in exchange for ''greenbacks." 
This strengthened the credit of the government and enabled it to 
borrow all the money it wanted (to meet the debt as it fell due) at 
very low rates of interest. 

380. Summary. The four most important events of Mr. Hayes' 
presidency were (i) his withdrawal of troops from the South; 
(2) the great railway and coal strikes ; (3) the deepening of the 
mouth of the Mississippi ; (4) the purchase of large quantities of 
silver which was coined into dollars ; (5) the redemption of "green- 
backs " in gold and the reduction of the expenses of the govern- 
ment in paying interest on its debt. 

James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur (Republican) 

381. Garfield*s and Arthur^s Administrations (Twentieth and 
Twenty-first Presidents, One Term, 1881-1885); Assassination 
of the President; Civil Service Reform. In the summer follow- 
ing his inauguration President Garfield ^ was shot by a disap- 
pointed office seeker named Guiteau.^ He died in the autumn 

1 James A. Garfield was bom in Ohio, 1831 ; died, 1881, His early life was passed in 
hardship and poverty. By dint of hard work he fitted himself for college, and graduated 
at Williams College, Massachusetts. He entered the Union army, and was promoted to the 
rank of major general. In 1863 he was elected to Congress, and later was chosen United 
States senator. In 1880 he was elected President (Chester A. Arthur of New York, Vice 
President) over General W. S. Hancock of Pennsylvania and William H. English of Indiana, 
the Democratic candidates. 

2 Guiteau was convicted of the murder and hanged. 



1881-1888] THE EAST RIVER SUSPENSION BRIDGE 349 

from the effects of the wound, and Vice President Arthur be- 
came President.^ 

The murder of Garfield led to an attempt on the part of Con- 
gress to relieve the President from the necessity of appointing 
thousands^ of persons to government offices merely as a reward 
for their having worked, or spent money, to get him elected. 

A law called the Civil Service Reform Act was passed in 1883. 
It gave the President power to appoint commissioners to examine 
persons applying for certain grades of government offices known 
as the civil service, that is, all outside of the military or naval 
service. These commissioners recommend those who show them- 
selves best fitted to do the work. Out of the list they furnish, 
the President can then make his selection. 

This method takes off the President's hands a vast amount of 
very laborious work. It also saves his time, and spares him the 
vexation of having to listen to that class — found even among 
office seekers — who cry night and day, like professional beggars, 
'"Give!" "Give!" 

Since then the operation of this act has been greatly extended. 
To-day about two thirds of the whole number of civil offices and 
positions under the government are subject to its rules. 

Once the applicants for such places sought them as a personal 
favor, but now under the '' merit system " all have an equal oppor- 
tunity to attain government employment. Those who get places 
have the right to keep them so long as they show themselves 
faithful and capable. 

382. The East River Suspension Bridge; Cheap Postage; the 
Alien Contract Labor Act. An illustration of our steadily growing 
prosperity and enterprise was given in the completion of the great 
East River Suspension Bridge^ connecting New York City with 

1 See the Constitution, Article II, Section i, Paragraph 6. 

2 At present there are more than 420,000 persons employed in the civil service of the gov- 
ernment. This number includes all who are employed in the post-office service, but not 
those in the diplomatic and consular departments. The total r amber of clerks and others 
employed by the government in the District of Columbia is over 25,000. 

3 The bridge was begun by John A. Roebling of Trenton, New Jersey, the inventor of 
wire suspension bridges. Mr. Roebling only lived to complete the plan of the great struc- 
ture. He was succeeded by his son, W. A. Roebling, who finished the work. 



3 so LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1883 



Brooklyn (1883). This bridge was the first one of the kind begun 
by the leading city of America. Up to that time the only means 
of communication across the river was by lines of ferryboats. The 
cost of the work was ^i 5,000,000, — an amount double that of the 
entire annual expense of carrying on the government of the United 
States in the first years of Washington's presidency. It took four- 
teen years to finish the structure, which has a total length of over a 
mile. Since then four more great bridges have been built across 
the East River, connecting New York with Long Island (§ 408). 




The East River Suspension Bridge 

In addition to these colossal structures, fourteen tunnels have 
recently been completed, at a cost of about $70,000,000, under the 
East and North or Hudson rivers. They connect the city with 
Long Island and New Jersey. Through them fast electric trains 
loaded with passengers are constantly passing in both directions. 
New York is now practically about as accessible as though it was 
on the mainland instead of on the island of Manhattan. 

Still another evidence of the prosperity of the country was the 
reduction of postage (1883) on letters, weighing not more than 



1884-1885] THE "NEW SOUTH'^ 351 

half an ounce, from three cents to two. Two years afterward 
(1885), the weight of a letter which might be sent at this low 
rate was increased to a full ounce. For two cents we can now 
send a thick letter to any part of the United States or our island 
possessions, thus covering a distance, from New York to Manila, 
of over 11,000 miles. 

The same year (1885) Congress passed the Alien Contract 
Labor Act. Its object was to protect American workmen against 
the importation of foreign workmen (§ 280). The act prohibited 
any company or other persons from bringing foreigners into the 
United States under contract to perform labor here. The only 
exceptions made by this law were in the case of those who were 
brought over to do housework or other domestic service, and 
skilled workmen who should be needed here to help establish 
some new trade or industry. 

383. The New Orleans Cotton Centennial Exhibition; the '* New 
South.'* Shortly after the close of the American Revolution (1784) 
eight bags of cotton were exported from Charleston, South Caro- 
lina, to England (§205). It was the first shipment of the kind 
ever made from the United States. In time this country came to 
supply nearly all the cotton used in Great Britain and Europe, 
and the value of the crop grew to be so great that it was a com- 
mon saying at the South, '' Cotton is king." 

An exhibition was opened (1884) at New Orleans to mark the 
hundredth anniversary of the first export of that product. This city 
and Galveston have since become the two largest cotton ports in 
America. The real importance of that Centennial Exhibition lay 
in the fact of its showing that the South had so entirely changed 
that it could rightfully be called the " New South." 

384. The Progress made by New Orleans an Illustration of 
what the " New South ** is doing. Take New Orleans itself as 
an illustration. Before the war it had but a single important line 
of railway entering the city ; now it has six great lines. 

Before the war it was almost wholly a commercial city, and its 
manufactures practically counted for nothing. To-day, thanks in 
large measure to Captain Eads' great work (§ 378), its commerce 



352 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1885 



has gained enormously. Its manufactures too are rapidly increasing ; 
it now makes great quantities of goods which it formerly bought. 

385. The South no longer a purely Agricultural Country; its 
Manufactures; its Prosperity ; the^^Freedmen"; Education. The 
change that has taken place in New Orleans shows us what has 
been going on throughout the South. When the war broke out 
it was almost purely an agricultural country; since then many 
thousand new manufacturing and mining enterprises have been 
started, including the production of cotton-seed oil/ and many 

thousands of miles 
of railway have been 
built. Such cities as 
the great cotton port of 
Galveston, with such 
manufacturing cen- 
ters as Chattanooga, 
Augusta, Atlanta, 
and Birmingham, are 
" hives of industry." 
Their commerce, their 
cotton mills, iron 
mills, and other im- 
portant works have 
become rivals of those 
in the North or West. 
They possess the great 
advantage of having their supplies of raw material — their cotton, 
iron, lumber — at the very doors of their factories and mills, with 
unlimited quantities of coal for fuel, and, in some cases, immense 
water power ^ besides. 

But this is not all. A new spirit shows itself in the South. 
Free labor is accomplishing double what slave labor did. In i860 
the South produced less than 5,000,000 bales of cotton; now it 

1 Before the war the seed was thrown away or burned as useless. Now many millions of 
dollars are invested in its production. The oil is used for salad oil, for making soap, and for 
many other purposes. 

2 Augusta, Spartanburg, and Columbus have great water power. 




The New South 



1885] CLEVELAND'S ADMINISTRATION 353 

sometimes produces over 16,000,000 ; the white man does a part 
of the work ; the negro does the rest. The '' freedmen " share 
in this prosperity ; when the war broke out they could not call 
even themselves their own ; to-day they are taxed for several hun- 
dred million dollars' worth of property, which they have fairly 
made and just as fairly enjoy. 

In education the progress has been equally great.^ Common 
schools have multiplied all through the South, — they are free to 
black and white alike, though the schools are separate, — and the 
negro has not only many thousand teachers of his owji race, but 
great numbers of white teachers besides. If he cannot get on 
now, the fault will be mainly his own. 

386. Summary. The principal events of the Garfield and 
Arthur administrations were (i) the assassination of President Gar- 
field, followed by Vice President Arthur's succession ; (2) the Civil 
Service Reform Act ; (3) the Alien Contract Labor Act, intended 
to protect American workmen against the importation of foreign 
workmen. 

During Arthur's presidency the general prosperity of the country 
was shown by the completion of the East River Suspension Bridge 
(followed many years later by three other great bridges and by four- 
teen tunnels). His administration was also marked by the reduc- 
tion in the rate of letter postage, and by the immense growth and 
prosperity of the '* New South." 

Grover Cleveland (Democrat) 

387. Cleveland's Administration (Twenty-second President, One 
Term, 1 885-1 889). The Republican party had held control of the 
government ever since the election of Abraham Lincoln ; Grover 

1 In 1882 Paul Tulane, of Princeton, New Jersey, but for more than half a century a 
resident of New Orleans, left over ^1,000,000 to found a university for the education of white 
youth in that city, Vanderbilt University of Nashville, Tennessee, is another example of the 
same kind. In 1866 George Peabody of Danvers, Massachusetts (the London banker), gave 
a sum of money, which he later increased to ^3,500,000, for the promotion of education at 
the South. In 1882 John F. Slater of Norwich, Connecticut, gave ^1,000,000 for the educa- 
tion of the "freedmen " at the South. To-day the southern states are spending very large 
gums on common- and high-schoo) education- 



354 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Cleveland ^ was the first Democratic President that had been in- 
augurated since Buchanan — more than a quarter of a century 
before (§310). 

388. The ** Knights of Labor »^ the ** Black List'* and the 
"Boycott; the ** American Federation of Labor"; the Depart- 
ments of Labor and of Agriculture. For a number of years a 
large part of the laboring men of the country had been members 
of a society or union known as the ''Knights of Labor" (1869). 
The purpose of the society was to secure for its members the 

power of united action in all matters 
that concerned their interest. 

In this, as in every country, there 
had been at times serious disputes be- 
tween employers and workmen ; one 
object of the '' Knights of Labor " was 
to get such disputes settled in a way 
satisfactory to both parties. Where 
this could not be done, the labor union 
might order its members to quit work 
until they either got the terms they 
asked, or were compelled to accept 
those offered by the employers. In 
some instances, when the union men 
struck, they refused to allow men who were not '* Knights of 
Labor " to take their places, and used force to prevent them. 

The employers, on the other hand, formed combinations to 
protect their own interests. In some cases they kept a '' black 
list " on which they recorded the names of those laboring men who 
were thought to be unreasonable in their demands for higher pay or 
shorter hours, or whose influence over the other men was believed 
to be injurious. Such men often found it impossible to get work. 

1 Grover Cleveland was bom in Caldwell, New Jersey, in 1837 ; died, 1908. His father 
soon after moved to New York state, and Grover began the study of law in Buffalo, at the 
age of eighteen. In 1881 he was elected mayor of that city, and the year following he became 
governor of New York. In 1884 Mr. Cleveland was elected President (Thomas A. Hendricks 
of Indiana, Vice President) by the Democrats, over James G. Blaine of Maine and John A. 
Logan of lUmois, the Republican candidates. Many " Independent Republicans," or " Mug- 
wumps," as they were called, voted for Mr. Cleveland. 




Grover Cleveland 



THE YEAR OF STRIKES 355 

The " Knights," however, were not without their weapon. They 
could refuse to have any deahngs with an employer who used the 
" black list " ; and furthermore, they could, and did, use their influ- 
ence to prevent others from having any dealings with him. This was 
called '' boycotting." ^ It is difficult to say whether the '' black list " 
or the ''boycott" came first, but in President Cleveland's administra- 
cion both were extensively used, and both caused immense loss with- 
out apparently gaining any very decided advantage for either side. 

More recently the '' American Federation of Labor " was or- 
ganized (1886). It is a combination of many different labor unions. 
Its object is to promote the welfare of the great body of working- 
men in the United States. It is one of the largest and strongest 
organizations of the kind in the world. 

The growing influence of organized labor induced Congress to 
create the National Labor Bureau (1884), later included in the 
Department of Commerce and Labor ^ (1903) and now in the De- 
partment of Labor (191 3). The Bureau collects and publishes 
important facts respecting the condition, rate of wages, and gen- 
eral progress of the laboring classes of the country. Both Depart- 
ments are ably managed, and make frequent reports which are of 
great value not only to those who sell or hire labor, but to the 
whole community besides. 

Meanwhile (1889) Congress made the Department of Agricul- 
ture one of the leading offices of the government. This Depart- 
ment has charge of all matters which are of interest to the farming 
population. It has proved itself very helpful to that great army of 
workers who till the soil and who furnish the people of this country 
with their '' daily bread." 

389. The Year of Strikes ; the Chicago Anarchists. The year 
(1886) in which the ''American Federation of Labor" was organ- 
ized (§388) may be called the year of labor strikes. They began very 

1 The word " boycott " came from the name of Captain Boycott, an English farmer 
and land agent in Ireland. In 1880 he became so much disliked that the people of the 
district where he lived refused to work for, buy from, sell to, or have any dealings whatever 
with him. 

2 The Department of Commerce and Labor was established to promote foreign and 
domestic commerce, mining, manufacturing and shipping industries, and the labor and trans- 
portation interests of the United States. In 1913 Labor was made a separate Department 



356 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [188(; 

early in the spring, with the horse-car drivers and conductors in New 
York ; and they gradually extended, in one form or another, to points 
as far west as Nebraska and as far south as New Orleans (§ 377). 

In many cases the strikers demanded that the working day be 
shortened to eight hours ; in other cases, they asked an increase 
of wages. In Chicago 40,000 men left their employments, and 
the greater part of the factories and workshops of the city were 
closed. Soon the men engaged in handling freight at the different 
railway freight houses in the city joined their fellow-workmen, and 
all movement or delivery of goods came to a stop. An excited 
meeting was held in Haymarket Square. The police, fearing a 
riot, ordered the crowd to disperse. At that moment some one 
threw a dynamite bomb at the police, which killed or wounded a 
large number of them. The officers then charged on the crowd 
with their revolvers and arrested the ringleaders of the mob. All 
but one were of foreign birth. They belonged to a small but dan- 
gerous class calling themselves anarchists. ^ 

The object of the anarchist is to overthrow all forms of gov- 
ernment, either by peaceable means, or — as in the case of the 
men arrested at Chicago — by murder and the destruction of prop- 
erty. The workingmen of Chicago, and throughout the country, 
expressed their horror of such methods, and denounced the anar- 
chists as enemies of the interests of labor and of society. Four 
of the rioters were tried, convicted of murder, and hanged. 

390. Growth of Great Corporations and ** Trusts." From the 
time of which we are speaking men engaged in every kind of work 
or enterprise have been more and more inclined to form associations. 
We have seen in a previous section (§ 388) how labor organized for 
self-protection and to obtain shorter hours or higher wages. 

In the same way capitalists have united in forming companies 
for carrying on business on a scale never before attempted. 

The object sought by these gigantic corporations and "trusts " ^ 
is generally to obtain more effective results, with less competition, 
at smaller cost, and at larger profit to the stockholders. 

1 Anarchists (an'ark-ists) . 

2 Trusts : companies working together for their common advantage. 



1886-] 



THE STATUE OF LIBERTY 



357 



For instance, there were once many individual men or small 
companies engaged in producing coal oil. Now the Standard Oil 
Company (organized in i88i) controls most of the output of petro- 
leum in the United States, and directly or indirectly influences 
the trade of the world in this important product. 

So, too, " trusts " have been formed, having in the aggregate 
many hundreds of millions of capital, for the manufacture and 
sale of iron, steel, sugar, cotton-seed oil, tobacco, 
india rubber, and other staple products. 

In like manner (since 1881) the Western Union 
Telegraph Company has absorbed, by purchase or by 
lease, the great majority of the telegraph lines in the 
United States, while the Bell Telephone Company 
" practically conducts the chief part of the telephone 
business " of the country. Again, many independ- 
ent or competing railway lines 
have consolidated into through 
systems often extending across 
the continent. 

The same movement is seen 
operating in a different way in 
the establishment of the ''depart- 
ment stores " of our large cities. 
Formerly the business they con- 
duct was in the hands of a number 
of small dealers, but now a cus- 
tomer can buy, under one roof, almost anything he wants, from a 
paper of pins to a barrel of flour, or a set of parlor furniture. 

These changes have revolutionized business in great degree 
and are of deep interest to every one. Within a few years the 
government has taken action for the purpose of supervising and 
regulating the methods by which the great railways and '' trusts " 
carry on their work. 

391. The Statue of Liberty. The year after President Cleve- 
land entered office, the colossal statue of " Liberty enlightening 
the World " was unveiled and lighted in the harbor of New 




The Statue of Liberty 



358 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [188G-1887 

York (1886). The statue — the largest of the kind ever made 
— was presented to the United States by citizens of the RepubHc 
of France, as a memorial of their friendly feeling toward the 
people of this country, and as an expression of their confidence 
in the stability of the American government. 

The statue is of bronze, and represents the goddess of Liberty 
holding a lighted torch, to show the way to those who are seeking 
the shores of the New World. 

392. Three Important Laws (the Presidential Succession; 
Presidential Elections; Interstate Railways). During President 
Cleveland's administration three very important laws were passed 
by CongresSo 

The first law, the Presidential Succession Act (1886), provided, 
in case of the death, removal, or disability of both the President 
and the Vice President, that the Secretary of State (followed, if 
necessary, by the other six members who then constituted the 
Cabinet) ^ should succeed to the office of President. 

The second law, the Electoral Count Act (1887), laid down cer- 
tain rules for counting the electoral votes, in order to prevent all 
uncertainty and dispute in regard to the election of the President, 
such as had occurred^in the case of President Hayes (§ 375). 

The third law (1887), the Interstate Commerce Act, was en- 
acted for the purpose of regulating the charges made by all rail- 
ways which pass from one state to another, the object being to 
secure fair and uniform rates both for passengers and freight. 
Nearly twenty years later this law was supplemented and strength- 
ened by the Railway Rate Act (1906) (§431). 

393. Summary. The principal events of President Cleveland's 
administration were (i) the widely extended labor strikes ; (2) the 
anarchist riot in Chicago ; (3) the growth of labor unions and of 
great corporations ; (4) the passage of three important laws relat- 
ing to the succession and the election of the President and to 
interstate commerce. 

1 The Cabinet consists of (i) the Secretary of State; (2) the Secretary of the Treasury; 
(3) the Secretary of War; (4) the Attorney-General; (5) the Postmaster-General; (6) the 
Secretary of the Navy ; (7) the Secretary of the Interior ; (8) the Secretary of Agriculture 
(1889) ; (9) the Secretary of Commerce (1903) ; (10) the Secretary of Labor (1913). 



\889] HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION 359 

Benjamin Harrison (Republican)^ 

394. Harrison's Administration (Twenty-third President, 1889- 
1893) ; Opening of Oklahoma ; how Cities spring up in the Far West. 

In the center of Indian Territory there was a large district called 
Oklahoma,^ noted for its natural beauty and fertility. In 1889 the 
United States purchased it from the Indians for the white men 
who desired to make homes there. 

On the 22d of April of that year some fifty thousand persons 
were waiting impatiently on the borders of the new country for 
President Harrison's signal giving them permission to enter and 
take up lands in the coveted region. At precisely twelve o'clock on 
that day the blast of a bugle announced that it was open to settle- 
ment. Instantly an avalanche of '' boomers " rushed wildly across 
the line, each one eager to get the first chance. Towns made of 
rough board shanties and of tents sprang up in all directions. The 
chief of these were Oklahoma City and Guthrie. At the end of four 
months the latter had a population of about 5000, with four daily 
papers and six banks. Since then the growth of pklahoma has been 
remarkable in numbers, in wealth, and in public improvements. 

395. Admission of Six New States ; Our New Ships of War ; 
Woman Suffrage. In November (1889) the President declared 
the four new states of Montana, Washington, North Dakota, and 
South Dakota admitted to the Union. The next summer (1890) 
Idaho and Wyoming were added, making a total at that date of 
forty-four. 

The power of the American nation manifests itself not only 
on the continent but on the ocean. The old, worn-out wooden 

1 Benjamin Harrison was born at North Bend, Ohio, in 1833 ! ^^^^ Jri 1901, He was a 
grandson of President W. H. Harrison (§ 282), Mr. Harrison studied law, and opened an 
office at Indianapolis. In 1862 he entered the Union army as a second lieutenant of Indiana 
volunteers. Later he was commissioned colonel of the Seventieth Indiana Regiment. Near 
the close of the war he received the title of brigadier general of volunteers. In 1880 he 
was elected United States senator. In 1888 he was elected President by the Republicans 
(Levi P. Morton of New York, Vice President) over Grover Cleveland of New York and 
Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, the Democratic candidates. The chief political issue in the 
election was the question whether the United States should adopt the Democratic policy 
of a reduction of tariff, or that of protection advocated by the Republicans. 

2 Oklahoma is an Indian name meaning the " Land of the Red Men." 



36o LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1890 

vessels which made up a large part of our navy have been grad- 
ually replaced (since 1884) by a fleet of magnificent steel war 
steamers, named generally after states and cities.^ Our new navy 
first showed its effective fighting power (1898) in the war with 
Spain (§§415,417). Nine years later a great fleet of these vessels 
started on their famous cruise round the world (§ 431). 

Wyoming Territory was the first admitted to the Union, since 
the adoption of the Constitution, in which women could vote^ 
and hold office the same as men (1870). Colorado (1893) fol- 
lowed her example, and elected three women to the legislature. 
Utah, Idaho, Washington, California, Arizona, Kansas, Oregon, 
and Nevada appeared next on the list. Then we have Montana 
— which elected the first woman to Congress.^ There are now 
fifteen such states, with the prospect of more to come. To-day 
American women have excellent educational opportunities, and 
they can enter any field of work which they are likely to choose. 

396. The New Pension Act ; the Sherman Silver Purchase and 
Coinage Act ; the McKinley Protective Tariff. Early in Harri- 
son's administration Congress passed (1890) three very important 
laws relating directly or indirectly to getting, coining, or spending 
money. The first was the new Pension Act. This added nearly 
480,000 names to the list of '' invalid soldiers " or their widows, 
to whom the government pays a sum of money each year. The 
whole number of pensioners, including a considerable number 
added by our war with Spain, was (19 16) about 750,000. They 
draw more than ^165,000,000 a year, or over ^450,000 a day. 

Many people still thought that we were not buying silver enough 
(§ 379)- I^or this reason Congress repealed the law of 1877, and 
passed the Sherman Silver Purchase and Coinage Act (1890). It 
directed the Secretary of the Treasury to buy 4,500,000 ounces 
of silver, or more than 150 tons, every month. Provision was 

1 The total number of vessels of war in the United States navy at the close of 191 1 
(including 26 first-class battleships) was 214 ; or, including vessels of all kinds, in service, in 
course of construction, or authorized, it was 381. In 1919 we had over 700 warships. 

2 Women voted in New Jersey from 1800 to 1807. Partial woman suffrage exists in 
many states. 

3 Miss Jeannette Rankin, Republican ; she took her seat in March, 1917, 



1890-1891] THE PATENT OFFICE CENTENNIAL 361 

made for coining a part of this into dollars. ^ These enormous 
purchases had the effect of raising the value of silver for a brief 
period. But the price of the *' white metal " soon began to fall 
again. The government then found itself in a very unpleasant pre- 
dicament, for the more silver it piled up in the Treasury vaults 
the more that silver shrank in value. A dollar that was worth 
81 cents, by weight, in 1890, soon dropped to 61 cents. 

In the autumn Congress enacted the McKinley Protective 
Tariff .2 Its main object was to protect American products, such 
as wool, for example, and American manufactures against foreign 
competition. 

397. The Census of 1890; the Patent Office Centennial; the 
Homestead Strike. The Centennial census of the United States 
(1890) reported the total population at over 62,000,000. Since 
the first national census was taken in 1790 we had gained more 
than 58,000,000 of people, and had taken possession of the 
entire breadth of the continent, from ocean to ocean. 

The next spring (1891) the Patent Ofhce at Washington cele- 
brated its hundredth birthday. It issued its first patent (for mak- 
ing potash for the manufacture of soap) in 1790; by 1891 it had 
issued more than 450,000. These patents show that American 
inventive genius has entered every field which thought and skill 
can occupy. Our labor-saving machines are the most wonderful 
in the world. They are driven by hand, by horse power, by wind, 
water, steam, gas, and electricity, and they do so many kinds 

1 The Director of the Mint stated that between 1873 ^^^ 1889 the value of the silver 
dollar fell gradually from a fraction over 100 cents in 1873, to about 72 cents in 1889. In 
1890 it rose to 81 cents ; in 1891 it averaged 76 cents ; in 1892, 67 cents ; and in 1893, 61 cents. 
He attributed the fall in value first to the fact that a number of European countries, includ- 
ing Germany and Austria, had long since ceased coining silver except for use as " change " ; 
but secondly and chiefly, because of the enormous increase in the amount mined. In 1873 
the world's production of the "white metal" was $81,800,000; by 1892 it had risen to 
$196,605,000, an increase of 140 per cent. See " Report of the Director of the Mint" for 
1893, pp. 21-26. 

2 The McKinley Tariff contained certain provisions (called Reciprocity or " Fair Trade " 
Measures) which permitted some foreign articles to be admitted free of duty, provided the 
country from which we imported them admitted American products free. When the McKinley 
Tariff was repealed in 1894 the Reciprocity Measures were repealed with it, but were later 
reenacted. Just before his assassination in 1901, President McKinley made a speech at 
Buffalo (§427) in which he strongly advocated the policy of reciprocity. 



362 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1892 

of work that it is getting to be difficult to think of any that 
they cannot do.^ 

The following year (1892) a second great strike in our history 
occurred (§ 377). The workmen in the Carnegie Steel Works at 
Homestead, near Pittsburg, asked for higher wages and stopped 
work when this demand was refused. The company hired a force 
of detectives to protect their buildings, and fierce battles were 
fought between them and the strikers. Both sides used firearms, 
and on both sides a number were killed. Eventually the governor 
of Pennsylvania was obliged to send a military force to occupy the 
town and restore order. 

398. Summary. Aside from the opening of Oklahoma and the 
admission of six new states (in two of which women may vote and 
hold office the same as men), the principal events of Harrison's 
administration were (i) the building of many new ships of war; 

(2) the passage of the new Pension Act, the Sherman Silver Pur- 
chase and Coinage Act, and the McKinley Protective Tariff; 

(3) the Census Report, the Patent Office Celebration, and the 
Homestead Strike. 

1 Among the inventions of the nineteenth century, not previously mentioned, attention 
may be called to the following : the machine gun, smokeless powder, fixed ammunition, 
breech-loading cannon ; the Westinghouse air brake for cars, automatic electric signals, the 
interlocking safety switch, the automatic car coupler, vestibule trains, the Pullman and the 
Wagner palace cars ; the compressed-air drill, the sand blast for cutting designs on glass ; 
the electric search light, electric welding and heating ; cold storage ; noiseless firearms ; color 
photography ; the submarine signaling apparatus ; aluminum ware ; enameled kitchen ware ; 
dyes made from coal tar ; wood paper ; wire nails, gimlet-pointed screws, plain and barbed- 
wire fence ; the cash carrier for stores, the passenger elevator ; ocean steamers built of steel 
with water-tight bulkheads and twin screws ; the hydraulic dredge ; the gas engine, the Cor- 
liss engine ; the voting machine ; the tin-can-making machine ; water gas ; Yale, combination, 
and time locks ; the bicycle. 

Among the most noteworthy scientific discoveries of the last century (not previously 
mentioned) are spectrum analysis, dynamite, the use of cocaine as a local anaesthetic in 
producing insensibility to pain, the X or Rontgen Ray used in surgery (and, to some extent, 
in the arts) for seeing and photographing objects otherwise invisible to the eye, the use of 
antiseptics in surgical operations, and finally the discovery and treatment of disease germs, 
the production of liquid air, and the discovery of the properties of radium. 



1893] CLEVELAND'S (SECOND) ADMINISTRATION 363 

Grover Cleveland ^ (Democrat) 

399. Cleveland's (Second) Administration (Twenty-fourth Pres- 
ident, 1 893-1 897) ; the Introduction of the Australian or Secret 
Ballot. Soon after Harrison became President (1889) a new kind 
of ballot or voting paper was used by the people of Massachusetts 
for the first time in the United States. It was called the Aus- 
tralian ballot, because it was introduced here from that country. 
One great fault in the old system of election was that the by- 
standers could see how each one voted. This often prevented a 
man from voting independently, and so did great harm. 

The Australian method is this : 

1. An officer hands the voter a printed ballot having on it 
the names of all the candidates of the different political parties. 

2. The voter, passing behind a railing, enters a narrow booth, 
or stall, where no one can overlook him, and makes a cross 
opposite the names of such candidates as he chooses. 

3. Finally, he folds his ballot so that no one can see what 
names he has marked, and, in the presence of an officer, deposits 
it in the ballot box. When Mr. Cleveland was elected to his 
second term of office (1892) many states had adopted the Aus- 
tralian ballot or one resembling it. No less than forty-four states 
out of forty-eight now use it. 

400. The World's Columbian Exposition; Panic and "Hard 
Times'^ (1893); Repeal of an Important Act; the Bering Sea 
Case. In October (1892) the public schools throughout the Union 
celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of 
America by Columbus. At the same time the magnificent buildings 

1 Grover Cleveland (§387, note 1) was elected a second time by the Democrats (Adlai 
E. Stevenson of Illinois, Vice President) over Benjamin Harrison (§ 394, note i), the Repub- 
lican candidate for reelection. The political question v^^as practically the same as in the 
previous presidential election (§ 394, note i). At this election a new party, calling itself the 
'■ People's Party," or " Popuhsts," voted for James B. Weaver of Iowa for President. Out 
of a total of 444 " electoral votes " cast for all presidential candidates, he received 22, but 
none east of Kansas, which gave him 10, The " Populists " in their platform declared them- 
selves in favor of the union of the labor forces of the United States to secure (i) the ownership 
of all railway, telegraph, and telephone lines by the national government ; (2) free coinage 
of silver in its present ratio of 16 ounces of silver to one of gold ; (3) the establishment of 
postal savings banks ; (4) the prohibition of all alien ownership of land. 



364 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1893- 

of the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago were dedicated. 
The next spring (1893) President Cleveland opened the great Fair 
to the public. It proved to be a brilliant success in every respect. 

But the summer brought '' hard times " to multitudes. There 
had been a business panic (§§275, 312, 373) in the spring, which 
was followed by many disastrous failures. Property of all kinds 
fell in value, and immense numbers of people who depended on 
the work of their hands for their daily bread were thrown out of 
employment. Great strikes in the coal mines and on one of the 
leading coal railways increased the distress. 

Before the presidential election the Republicans and the Demo- 
crats had both declared themselves on the side of *' honest 
money," and had resolved that they would make every dollar, 
whether silver or paper, as good as gold. 

President Cleveland believed that the Sherman Silver Pur- 
chase and Coinage Act (1890) was doing harm to the country 
(§ 396)- He called a special meeting of Congress (1893), which 
repealed the purchase clause in the act. This stopped the buying 
of silver and checked the making of silver dollars. 

Meanwhile (1893), a serious dispute in regard to Bering Sea 
was settled. We claimed that when we bought Alaska (§ 368) we 
bought the right to control Bering Sea and could close it against 
English and other foreign seal hunters. The foreign seal hunters 
denied our right to shut the sea. Finally, the question was left to 
a commission^ to decide. They reported that Bering Sea must 
remain open, but that the seals should be properly protected, and 
not killed by everybody at all times. This protection was what we 
most wished to secure. We got it, as we did the damages for the 
destruction done by the Alabama (§ 374), by peaceful means. That 
bloodless victory was an advantage to us and to the world. The 
more such bloodless victories any nation can win, the better. 

401. The Coxey ** Industrial Army**; the Pullman Strike; 
more **Hard Times." The next spring (1894) a man named 
Coxey started from Ohio to lead an '' army " of the unemployed 

1 Bering Sea Commission : this commission consisted of seven eminent men chosen by 
the United States, the British Empire, France, Italy, and Norway and Sweden. 



1894-1896] THE WILSON TARIFF 365 

to Washington to demand relief from the government. Some of 
those who joined him were honest men seeking work, but many- 
were simply '' tramps " and criminals. Coxey, with a part of his 
''army," reached the national capital, but accomplished nothing, 
and his disgusted followers soon disbanded and disappeared. 

Shortly after this a third historic strike occurred (§ 397). 
Several thousand workmen employed in building Pullman cars 
at Pullman, near Chicago, struck for higher wages. Next, the 
men on a number of western railways struck in order to stop 
the use of these cars until the Pullman Company should raise 
the rate of wages. For a time trains ceased running between 
Chicago and San Francisco and other points. Much railway 
property was destroyed, and the President felt compelled to send 
United States troops to Chicago and to certain points in Cali- 
fornia to protect the carrying of the mails and to maintain order. 
Meanwhile (1894), a new money panic (§§275, 312, 373, 400) 
did enormous damage to all kinds of business and for a time 
made it harder than ever for men to get work. 

402. The Wilson Tariff. After a long and bitter contest Congress 
enacted {1894) a modified form of what was originally called the 
Wilson Tariff (§§ 200, 234, 266, 267, 269, 324)^ It reduced pro- 
tective duties about one fourth, and admitted wool, salt, and lumber 
free. It furthermore condemned '' trusts " (§ 390) and all combina- 
tions in restraint of lawful trade which affected imports in any way. 

403. The Admission of Utah; the ** New West.'* Two years 
later {1896) Utah — the forty-fifth state — was admitted to the 
Union. The admission of Utah naturally called attention to the 
marvelous growth of the '' New West" in population, wealth, and 
industrial enterprise. Thousands of miles of railways had been 
constructed in that section within ten years, cities and towns had 
multiplied, mines of precious metals had been opened, and cattle 
ranches, sheep ranches, and grain farms were yielding food 
products on a gigantic scale. 

404. The Venezuela Question. In his third annual message (i 895) 
President Cleveland expressed the hope that the long-standing 
dispute between England and Venezuela respecting the boundary 



366 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1896-1897 

line of British Guiana might be settled by a joint committee 
of arbitration (§§ 374, 400). England, however, failed to act, 
and the President, with the consent of Congress, appointed a 
commission to determine ''the true divisional line between the 
Republic of Venezuela and British Guiana." Soon after, Eng- 
land and the United States settled the dispute in a friendly 
way (1896). 

405. Summary. The chief events of Cleveland's second ad- 
ministration were (i) the introduction at presidential elections 
of the Australian or secret ballot ; (2) the opening of the World's 
Columbian Exposition; {3) the financial panics of 1 893-1 894, the 
repeal of the Sherman Silver Act ; (4) the settlement of the Bering 
Sea controversy and of the Venezuela boundary dispute ; (5) the 
Coxey '' Industrial Army " movement ; (6) the Pullman strike ; 
(7) the passage of the Wilson Tariff ; (8) the admission of Utah. 

William McKinley^ and Theodore Roosevelt 
(Republican) 

406. McKinley's and Roosevelt* s Administrations (Twenty- 
fifth and Twenty-sixth Presidents, Two Terms, 1897-1905); the 
Dingley Tariff. When the new President entered office the gov- 
ernment was in great need of money to meet its expenses ; Con- 
gress passed the Dingley high Protective Tariff 2 (§§200, 234, 
266, 267, 269, 324, 402) '' to provide revenue for the support of the 
government, and to encourage the industries of the United States." 

1 William McKinley was born in 1843 in Niles, Ohio ; died, 1901. He enlisted in the Civil 
War, and was promoted for gallant service to the rank of major. After the war he began the 
practice of law in Canton, Ohio. In 1876 the Republicans elected him to Congress. In 1890 
he introduced the McKinley tariff. In 1896 the Republican vote, supplemented by the votes 
of many " Gold Democrats," elected him President of the United States (Garrett A. Hobart 
of New Jersey, Vice President) over William J. Bryan, the Democratic and PopuHst candi- 
date. The great question at the election was whether the United States should adopt the 
free and unlimited coinage of silver advocated by the regular Democratic party and by the 
Popuhsts, but opposed by the Republicans and the " Gold Democrats." Mr. McKinley was 
reelected President by the RepubHcans in 1900 (Theodore Roosevelt of New York, Vice 
President) over William J. Bryan. The Democrats demanded ".Free Silver" and the ulti- 
mate independence of the Philippines ; the Republican platform upheld the gold standard, 
and pledged self-government, as far as practicable, to the Philippines. 

2 The tariff got its name from Nelson Dingley, who originated the measure. 



1897-] 



INCREASE IN EXPORTS 



367 




The Dingley Tariff made many changes : 

1. It levied duties on wool and certain other raw materials, 
which the Wilson Tariff (§ 402) had admitted free. 

2. It generally imposed higher rates on silks, woolens, and 
other woven fabrics. 

3. It kept in force the sections of the Wilson Tariff which forbade 
all persons forming combinations to restrain trade in any articles 
imported into the United States, 
or to raise their market price. 

407. Enormous Increase in Our 
Exports ; Architectural Progress. 
One of the marked features of 
the period, which still continues, 
was the great gain in our exports. 
Every year we ship to Europe 
and to other countries breadstuffs, 
provisions, and cattle valued at 
hundreds of millions of dollars. 
Great Britain depends on us for 
a large part of her food supply. 
American beef has crowded most 
of " the roast beef of Old Eng- 
land " off the table ; and when 
the traveler calls for bread, the 
waiter will quite likely bring him a loaf made of Minnesota flour. 

We also export immense quantities of cotton, petroleum, leather, 
and tobacco. 

Within the memory of men now living we did not send any 
manufactured iron or steel abroad ; on the contrary, we once 
imported most of our tools and even the locomotives and the 
rails for our railways. Since then we have sent American loco- 
motives and American rails to Russia, China, Japan, and, in 
some cases, to Great Britain ; and we have constructed steel 
bridges in Egypt, and electric street-car lines through Cairo to 
the Pyramids. Between 19 10 and. 1920 our exports of all kinds 
increased to such an extent that we reckon their yearly value not 



William McKinley 



368 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1S97- 



by hundreds but by thousands of miUions.^ We are sending 
abroad our tools, hardware, and machinery in constantly greater 
quantities. American reapers, mowers, sewing machines, watches, 
typewriters, and firearm.s can be found for sale in every large 
city in Europe. 

The architectural progress of our country was marked (in 1 897) 
by two noteworthy events. In the spring General Grant's tomb 
was dedicated. It stands on the banks of 
the Hudson in Riverside Park, New York. 
Over the entrance are cut the significant 
words of the great commander, '' Let us 
have peace." 

Other recent buildings in New York of 
commanding excellence are the Museum of 
Art, the Museum of Natural History, the 
Public Library, the Library of Columbia Uni- 
versity, the new Customhouse, the College 
of the City of New York, the Washington 
Arch, and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch. 
In the autumn the magnificent Congres- 
sional Library Building in Washington was 
opened. It is an imposing granite structure 
facing the Capitol ; it has room for nearly six 
million volumes, and is considered to be the 
finest building of the kind in the world. 
408. ** Greater New York*' ; Growth and 
Government of American Cities. On New Year's Day, 1898, New 
York City extended its boundary lines so as to take in Brooklyn 
and many other smaller places. Thus enlarged it covers an area 
of about 327 square miles, — or a territory more than one fourth 
that of the state of Rhode Island, — and its population, which was 
then rated at 4,500,000, is now estimated at over 6,000,000. This 
makes New York the largest city in the world except London. 




Steel Manufacture 



1 In 191 5 our total exports, including food products, cotton, iron, copper, munitions of 
war, and manufactured articles, exceeded ^2,768,000,000, and in 1920 it was estimated at 
about ^7,000,000,000. 



181 ».S- 



GREATER NEW YORK 



369 



The lack of space in lower New York has seemed to compel 
the erection of enormously high steel-framed business buildings. 
Wall Street, Broad Street, and 
parts of lower Broadway now 
resemble canyons in the Rocky 
Mountains. Office buildings have 
been constructed which rise to 
a height of from 600 to over 
700 feet and contain from forty 
to fifty stories. The bridges and 
tunnels of the city have been 
mentioned (§ 382). IniQi/the 
city completed the construction 
of the greatest water works in 
the world. They bring an abun- 
dant supply of pure water from 
the Catskill Mountains, more Grant's Tomb, Riverside Park, 
than a hundred miles distant. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^'^^ 

The rapid growth of our cities is one of the most remark- 
able features in our history. When our first national census was 





Coi\GRESSIOx\AL LIBRARY BuiLDING, WASHINGTON 



370 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



1898- 




Wall Street 
The money center of America. 



taken (1790) (§ 202) we had only 
six cities which had 8000 or more 
inhabitants. Philadelphia came 
first with 42,000 and New York 
next with 33,000. By the census 
of 1900 the total number of cities 
in the United States having 8000 
or more inhabitants was 546. In 
1790 only about three persons in 
a hundred lived in cities, while 
in 1 890 nearly thirty in a hundred 
lived in them ; by the census of 
19 10 the number had increased 
to forty-six in a hundred ; now 
the cities embrace almost half of 
our whole population (see p. xl). 
This change makes the good 
government of the United States 
depend very largely on the good 
government of our cities. If they 
are intelligently, honestly, and 
efficiently managed, all will prob- 
ably go well ; but if they are 
badly managed, all is likely to 
go wrong. The decision of this 
great question rests with those 
who are now voters, but it will soon 
rest with those who are to-day 
pupils in the public schools. In 
a few years you who are studying 
the history of your country will 
be called upon to take a hand in 
shaping its history. Your votes 
will then turn the scale, and 
America will be whatever you 
choose to make it. 



180S-] 



REVISED STATE CONSTITUTIONS 



371 



409. Revised State Constitutions in the South and West ; the 
Negro Vote shut out. Since 1890 seven southern states. — namely, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, 
Virginia, and Georgia — have adopted new or amended constitu- 
tions. These states require every voter to be able to read a section of 
the state constitution, or to pay a certain amount of taxes, or both. 

This change practically ex- 
cludes, and is intended to 
exclude, the great majority of 
the negroes from voting, and 
it gives the white race the 
entire control. In this way 
the Fifteenth Amendment to 
the Constitution (§ 366) has 
been set aside and no longer 
has any real effect.^ 

In the Far West, South 
Dakota amended its constitu- 
tion (1898) for the purpose 
of giving the people of the 
state a more direct voice in 
making its laws. The amend- 
ment provided that whenever 
five per cent of the voters — 
or fifty in a thousand — should 
ask for the enactment of a law, the question should be decided at 
a special election. If, on the other hand, the same number should 
object to any law which the legislature had enacted, the question 
of retaining it must be decided in the same way.^ This method 
has been in operation in the republic of Switzerland for many 

1 See the Constitution, in the Appendix, p. xxiii, Amendments, Article XV. 

2 This power is called the right of Initiative and of Referendum ; because the people 
initiate or originate legislation in the one case, while in the other they approve or reject the 
law which has been referred to them. Many states now use one or both of these methods. 

Some states also use the power of Recall, by which they can remove a man holding office 
if, at a special election, a majority vote in favor of such action. Still another power which 
the people can exercise in certain states is the right to vote directly for the nomination of 
such candidates as they desire to put in office — this is called the Direct Primary. 




A New York Office Building 



372 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

years, but South Dakota was the first state here to make trial of it. 
Later (1902), Oregon adopted an amendment to its constitution 
similar to that of South Dakota. Since then a number of other states 
have adopted like measures ; so, too, have a number of cities. 

410. Spanish Possessions in the Sixteenth Century. It will be 
remembered that at the close of the sixteenth century Spaniards 
were the only white men who had planted permanent colonies in 
North America (§§ 29, 42). They, too, held the West Indies, the 
greater part of South America, the Philippines, and other groups 
of islands in the East. The King of Spain could then boast with 
truth "that the sun never set on his dominions." 

As late almost as the beginning of the nineteenth century Spain 
still held the greater part of the West Indies, Mexico, Florida, 
and the whole vast territory between the Mississippi River and the 
Pacific, which is now part of the United States. 

In less than twenty-five years from that time Spain had been 
forced to sell or had lost ^ all of her immense possessions on the 
mainland of North America. The only important islands she had 
left in the West Indies were Cuba and Porto Rico. 

411. The Revolution in Cuba; War for Independence. Spain's 
oppressive treatment of Cuba caused great discontent, and for 
many years there was danger of open revolt. The southern slave 
states coveted the island, which is as large as Pennsylvania and 
is almost in sight from Key West, Florida. The United States 
(1845) offered Spain ^100,000,000 for Cuba, but met with a flat 
refusal. Later, several armed expeditions tried to seize the island 
on behalf of the South. The American ministers to Great Britain, 
France, and Spain met in Belgium (1854), to discuss the Cuban 
question. They declared that so long as Cuba should belong to 
Spain it would be dangerous to our peace, and that if Spain 
should continue to refuse to sell us the island we should be 
justified in taking it by force. ^ 

1 Napoleon forced Spain to give up the great province of Louisiana to him ; in 1803 he 
sold it to us (§ 215) ; Spain felt obliged to sell us Florida, and at the same time (1819) to 
give up all claims to Oregon (§ 238) ; and Mexico freed herself from Spain by revolution. 

2 Our ministers met in the city of Ostend, and their declaration is known as the Ostend 
Manifesto. 



IHDS] THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MAINE 373 

Later (1868), a rebellion broke out in Cuba^ which lasted ten 
years. Then (1895) a new uprising occurred, and the Revolu- 
tionists declared themselves for " independence or death." ^ This 
revolt in Cuba excited the people of the Spanish colony of the 
Philippines to declare their independence. 

President Cleveland said that if the war in Cuba should go 
on, it must end in '' the utter ruin of the island." He took the 
ground that rather than see this, it would be our duty to put a 
stop to the conflict. When President McKinley entered office the 
Cuban war was still raging, and an enormous amount of American 
property on the island had been destroyed. 

On the one hand, the Revolutionists hanged those farmers who 
would not take up arms and join them ; on the other, the com- 
mander of the Spanish army drove scores of thousands of the 
people into the towns .and shut them up there to die of pestilence 
or starvation. 

412. The Destruction of the Maim ; Report of the Court of 
Inquiry. While this horrible state of things was going on, an event 
occurred which suddenly changed everything. The United States 
had sent Captain Sigsbee in command of the battle ship Maine to 
pay a friendly visit to Havana. While lying in the harbor of that 
port the Maine was destroyed by an explosion (1898). Two of her 
officers and the greater part of her crew were killed. The terrible 
news acted like an electric shock on the people of our country. 

The United States appointed a naval Court of Inquiry to make 
an investigation. The court reported that, in their opinion, " the 
Maine was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine," but 
they accused no one of having been guilty of the act. The Span- 
ish government expressed its regret at the " lamentable incident " 

1 The population of Cuba consisted of (i) a small number of native Spaniards, who held 
nearly every position of power and trust ; (2) the other white inhabitants, who constituted 
the great bulk of the people ; (3) mulattoes, free negroes, and Chinamen. 

2 The progress of the rebellion developed four parties : (i) the Revolutionists, who de- 
manded absolute separation from Spain ; (2) those who asked for " home rule " — that is, 
the management of all local affairs — without separation from Spain ; (3) the Spanish party 
in power, who opposed any change whatever ; (4) a very large number of Cuban farmers 
who wished to remain neutral ; all they asked was to be let alone and allowed to cultivate 
their farms in peace; but neither the Revolutionists nor the Spanish military authorities 
would permit this. 



374 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1898 

and urged that the whole question should be referred to an arbi- 
tration committee chosen by different nations (§ 374). This pro- 
posal the United States declined to accept. Later, we raised the 
wreck of the Maine (191 2), and an examination confirmed the 
opinion of the court in regard to the mine. 

413. The President's Message ; the Resolutions adopted by Con- 
gress. In April (1898) President McKinley sent a special mes- 
sage to Congress. He declared that in the "name of humanity," 
in the " name of civilization," and '' in behalf of endangered 
American interests," the ^' zvar in Cuba must stop!' 

Shortly afterward both Houses of Congress resolved (April 19, 
1898) " that the people of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free 
and independent." Furthermore, Congress demanded that Spain 
should give up all sovereignty over Cuba ; in case Spain refused, 
the President was authorized to use the land and naval forces of 
the United States to compel the Spaniards to leave the island. 

Finally, Congress resolved that when peace should be made in 
Cuba, w^e would "leave the government and control of the island 
to its people." Later, however. Congress resolved (1902) that, 
in case of necessity, the Cubans must admit our right to act as 
guardians of their liberty (§ 419). 

414. We prepare for War with Spain (1898) ; the Call for 
Volunteers ; the Call for Money ; the Navy ; War declared. Spain 
refused to grant our demands and we determined to fight. 

The President called for 200,000 volunteers. A million men 
stepped forward, saying, " Here am I ; take me." Some of these 
men had been Union soldiers in the Civil War, while others had 
fought on the side of the South ; but now they were eager to stand 
side by side and fight against Spain. 

Furthermore, our people knew that in war money was as neces- 
sary as men ; so when the government wished to borrow a large 
sum great numbers at once offered to lend it seven times as much 
as it asked for. They also declared their willingness to pay the 
heavy taxes that would be needed. ^ 

1 The government asked for a loan of ^200,000,000, and raised about ^200,000,000 more 
every year as long as it was required. 




Naval Commanders 
375 



376 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [I8i)8 

In a contest with Spain the navy would naturally take the 
most prominent part. The President sent Captain William T. 
Sampson 1 with a fleet of war ships to blockade Havana and 
other ports of Cuba. He also ordered Commodore W. S. Schley'^ 
to organize a " flying squadron " of fast, armed steamers to be 
used as occasion might demand. Congress then declared war 
(April 25, 1898). 

415. The Battle of Manila. Commodore George Dewey, who 
had been with Farragut at the battle of New Orleans (§ 334), 
was then in command of our Asiatic squadron at Hongkong, 
China. The President ordered him to go to Manila, the capital 
of the Philippines (Map, p. 380), and '' capture or destroy " the 
Spanish squadron which guarded that important port. Our plan 
was to attack Spain through her colonies of Cuba and the Philip- 
pines and so strike her two heavy blows at the same time, — one 
on one side of the world, the other on the other. 

Commodore Dewey had only six ships of war. The Spaniards 
at Manila held a fortified port ; they had twice as many vessels 
as Dewey had, but our squadron was superior in size and arma- 
ment ; last of all, the enemy, though brave men and good fighters, 
had never learned how to fire straight. 

On May i, 1898, Comimodore Dewey reported that he had just 
fought a battle in which he had destroyed every vessel of the 
Spanish squadron without losing a man. A French officer, who 
witnessed the fight,, said that the American fire was '' something 
awful " for its '' accuracy and rapidity." 

The " Hero of Manila " was promoted to the rank of rear 
admiral ; after the war he was made admiral (1899), ^^^ Captain 
Sampson and Comrriodore Schley were made rear admirals. 

416. Commodore Schley discovers Cervera's Squadron. Shortly 
before the battle of Manila Admiral Cervera left the Cape Verde 
Islands with a Spanish squadron of seven war ships. Nobody in 
America knew whether Cervera was headed for Cuba or whether 
he meant to shell the cities on our eastern coast. 

1 Captain Sampson had the rank of At:ting Rear Admiral. 

2 Schley (sly or schla). 



ISDS] 



THE 'n^OUGH RIDERS 



111 



Commodore Schley set out with his " flying squadron " (§414) 
to find the enemy. The Commodore discovered that the Spanish 
ships had entered the harbor of Santiago on the southeast coast 
of Cuba. He said with a grim smile, " They will never get home." 
They never did. 

A few days later Captain Sampson sailed for Santiago. One 
of his squadron was the battle ship Oregon. It had come from 
San Francisco, through the Straits of Magellan, — an exciting 
voyage of over 13,000 miles, — in order to take part in the fight. 





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■"^^ v*-v 






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Santiago C>W=^*''w^ 


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Map of Cuba and Neighboring Islands 



The entrance to the harbor of Santiago is long, narrow, and 
crooked ; it was also protected by land batteries and submarine 
mines. Our ships could not get at the enemy. 

417. Fighting near Santiago ; the ^* Rough Riders '* ; Destruc- 
tion of Cervera's Squadron. Not long afterward General Shafter 
landed a strong force near Santiago to cooperate with Captain 
Sampson in the capture of that city. 

A week later (July 1-2, 1898) our ''regulars" and Roosevelt's 
" Rough Riders," ^ who here fought on foot, stormed up the 

' At the beginning of the war Theodore Roosevelt raised a force of volunteer cavalry. 
Colonel Leonard Wood (now General Wood) took command of this regiment, in which 
Roosevelt held the position of lieutenant colonel. The regiment was popularly known as 
" Roosevelt's Rough Riders." It included " cowboys " from the West and college graduates 
and the sons of wealthy families from the East. The " Rough Riders " always showed 
themselves the equal of any men in the field for desperate fighting. 



378 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1S08 




Colonel Roosevelt 



Steep heights of El Caney and San Juan, overlooking the city of 
Santiago. In spite of defenses made of barbed wire, they drove 
the Spanish, with heavy loss, pellmell into the city. 

Captain Sampson then went down the coast to confer with 
General Shafter. Meanwhile, Commodore Schley, of the flagship 
Brooklyn, and the commanders of the other vessels of the fleet, 
were keeping a sharp lookout for Cervera 
(§416). 

Not long after Captain Sampson left, a 
great shout went up from the Brooklyn : 
" The Spaniards are coming out of the 
harbor ! " Both sides opened fire at the 
same moment (July 3, 1898). But the Span- 
ish Admiral's squadron of six vessels proved 
to be no match for our fleet of six vessels, 
comprising four powerful battle ships.^ Such 
a condition could have but one result. 
In a few hours nothing was left of the enemy's squadron 
but helpless, blazing wrecks ; and Cervera himself was taken 
prisoner. Spain needed the few ships she had left to protect her 
own coast. Her sea power was destroyed, and the war on the 
ocean was over. 

It is a noteworthy fact that in our war with Spain, as in that 
with Mexico (§ 293), the American army and navy won every 
battle which they fought. 

418. The End of the War. This decisive defeat compelled the 
Spaniards to surrender Santiago. Shortly afterward the first draft 
for a treaty of peace was signed. The President then ordered all 
fighting to stop, and the Spanish governor of Porto Rico sur- 
rendered that island to General Miles. 

Before the President's dispatch could reach the Philippines, 
Rear Admiral Dewey and General Merritt, who had gone out with 
reenforcements, attacked and took Manila (August 13, 1898). 

1 Our fleet, then off Santiago (July 3, 1898), consisted of six war ships, among which 
were the battle ships lowa^ Indiana^ Oregon^ and Texas. The battle ship Massachusetts.^ 
with other war ships, and Captain Sampson's flag ship, the New Vo?-i', were east of Santiago. 
Cervera had four first-class cruisers, but no battle ships. 




Army Commanders 



379 



38o LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1898-1,S91) 

419. Our Seventh Step in National Expansion, — Annexation 
of Hawaii ^ and of the Islands ceded by Spain ; the Treaty of 
Peace ; Our Total Territorial Additions, 1803-19 17. After Dewey's 
splendid victory at Manila (§ 415) Captain Mahan and other emi- 
nent men in our navy urged the annexation of Hawaii. They 
believed that we needed the islands as a military base of defense 
and of naval operations in the Pacific. 

When the question came up in the United States Senate a 
number of senators declared that the people of the republic of 
Hawaii had not been fully and fairly consulted, and that the great 
majority of them were unfit for self-government. But Congress 
passed a resolution to annex, and Hawaii became a part of the 
territory of the United States (1898). 

The following year (1899) we came into possession of the 
Samoan Islands in the South Pacific. We now own a number 
of other small islands in the Pacific, several of which we use as 
coaling, naval, or telegraph stations. (Map, p. 380.) 

Meanwhile, the final treaty of peace between the United States 
and Spain had been signed (1898). The terms of the treaty were 
as follows : 

1. Spain gave up all right and title to Cuba. 

2. Spain gave up Porto Rico^ and Guam, the largest island in 
the Ladrones,^ to the United States. 

3. Finally, Spain gave up the entire group of the Philippines^ 
to us, on payment by us of $20,000,000 for the public works which 
the Spanish government had constructed in those islands. 

1 The Hawaiian group consists of twelve islands having a total area of less than 7000 
square miles. The total population in igoo was a little over 153,000. Of this number over 
61,000 are Japanese and 25,000 are Chinese. There are over 28,000 white inhabitants and 
about 30,000 Hawaiians. Only a part of the population can speak English. 

2 Porto Rico, with its three small dependent islands, has an area of a little over 3600 
square miles, and is therefore nearly three times as large as the state of Rhode Island. It 
has a population of nearly a million, composed of whites, negroes, and mulattoes. 

3 Guam (Map, p. 380) has an area of 200 square miles and a population of 8661. It was 
seized by the United States, during the war with Spain, as a naval port. 

4 The Philippines (Map, p. 380) comprise over 400 islands, many of which are very small. 
They have a total area of over 122,000 square miles. Luzon, the largest of the islands, of which 
Manila is the capital, has an area of nearly 40,000 square miles and is therefore nearly as large as 
the state of Ohio. The Philippines have a population of less than 8,000,000. The greater part of 
the inhabitants are (i) Malays, (2) savage tribes of an undersized negro-Hke race, and (3) Chinese. 



1898-1891)] OUR TOTAL TERRITORIAL ADDTITONS 3S1 

When the question of accepting the treaty came before the 
Senate/ a part of the. members objected to our taking possession 
of the Phihppines. They contended that we could not give the 
semicivihzed or barbarous people of those islands the rights and 
privileges of American citizenship ; and that, on the other hand, 
we could not hold them under permanent military rule without 
violating the spirit of the American Republic. They urged, too, 
that the expense and difficulty of governing so distant a territory 
would be very great, and that there would be serious danger of 
our getting into war with some of the nations of Europe over 
questions that would arise about the islands. 

They wished to amend the treaty so that it would simply make 
us the guardians over the Philippines, as in the case of Cuba, until 
the people of those islands should be able to govern themselves. 

But a large majority of the Senate held that the Philippines 
would be safer, and in every way better off, if they became a part 
of the United States. They argued that we had no choice ; the war, 
said they, has forced us to annex distant islands ; it has thus made 
us a "world power " ; and our trade interests with China and the 
Far East demand that we should own the whole of the Philippines. 
We can hold them, they said, as we do Alaska, under some form 
of territorial government, until we see our way to do differently. 

While the discussion was going on the natives attacked our 
forces at Manila. A fierce battle ensued, with the result that 
General Otis and Rear Admiral Dewey drove back the insurgents 
with terrible loss. The news of the battle was at once sent to 
Washington. The next day the Senate met to take action on the 
treaty of peace with Spain (1899). Fifty-seven senators voted for 
the treaty as it stood, against twenty-seven who voted against it. 
The result was that the treaty was accepted by one more than the 
two thirds' majority wliich the Constitution requires.^ This gave 
the whole Philippine group and the islands of Porto Rico and 
Guam to the United States. 

1 The President may make a treaty provided two thirds of the senators present vote in 
favor of it. See the Constitution in the Appendix, p. xv, Article II, Section 2, ParPgrnph 2 

2 See the Constitution in the Appendix, Article II, Section 2, Paragraph 2. 



382 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1898- 

Let us stop here long enough to review the seven great steps 
of our national territorial expansion from the first step to the 
present time (see Map, p. 332). 

I. (1803) We purchased the province of Louisiana from France 

(§215)."- 
. 2. (18 19) We purchased Florida from Spain (§ 238). 

3. (1845) We annexed the independent state of Texas at the 
urgent request of the people of that state (§ 285). 

4. (1846) We settled our claim to Oregon by a treaty with 
Great Britain (§§ 287, 289). 

5. (1848-18 5 3) We added California and other Mexican land 
cessions obtained through the Mexican War (§ 294), and the 
Gadsden tract obtained by purchase from. Mexico (§ 294). 

6. (1867) We bought Alaska of Russia (§ 368). 

7. (1898-19 1 7) We got peaceful possession of Hawaii, and 
obtained the Philippines, Guam, and Porto Rico through our war 
with Spain. Later (1904), we hired the use of the Panama Canal 
Zone (§ 425). Finally (1917), we bought the Virgin Islands in the 
West Indies (§ 444) (see Map facing p. 380). In- these ways we 
added nearly 3,000,000 square miles to the United States.^ 

When the natives of the Philippines ceased to fight against 
us, we established a government there in which we gave the 
people power to help make the laws. We also opened many 
excellent public schools for their benefit. 

In the meantime the Spanish had withdrawn from Cuba, which 
was to remain under our guardianship until the people should be 
prepared to govern themselves (§ 413). At noon on New Year's 
Day (1899) the Spanish flag was hauled down at Havana and the 
Stars and Stripes were hoisted above the palace and the castle 
of that ancient city. The Spanish general then bade a sorrowful 
farewell to the beautiful island. Spain, once so rich in American 
possessions (§ 410), does not now own a single foot of land on 
this side of the Atlantic. 

^ The total area of the United States. in 1800 was 827,844 square miles; its present area 
(including Alaska and our island possessions) is 3,756,884 square miles. The total additions 
amount to nearly 3,000,000 square miles. 



ISDS- 



IMPORTAN T RESULTS OF THE CONFLICT 



383 



Three years later (1902) the United States formally recog- 
nized the new republic of Cuba, but on the condition that the 
Cubans should acknowledge the right of the United States to 
take whatever action might be necessary to preserve the independ- 
ence of the island and to protect the life, property, and liberty 
of its people. 

Cuba soon had occasion to ask for our assistance. An insur- 
rection broke out (1906); the Cuban President resigned his office 
and appealed to the United States for help. We made Secretary 
Taft provisional governor of the island 
and held it, for a time, by military 
power. Our government now has good 
reason to hope that the people of Cuba 
have succeeded in reestablishing their 
republic on a permanent and peaceful 
foundation. 

420. Few of Our Men lost in the 
War with Spain ; Important Results 
of the Conflict. No successful campaign 
in the records of our history was ever 
fought at such small cost of life in 
battle, the total loss in the entire hun- 
dred days being only 402 ; but many 
times that number died from sickness. 

The war showed the wonderful fighting spirit of our navy and 
of our land forces. It greatly increased our island possessions 
(see p. 382). It united the Union and the Confederate veterans 
under the old flag; and it brought the "Red Cross Society"^ 
and the women of America to the front in their noble work of 
ministering to the wounded, the sick, and the dying. 




Clara Barton 



1 The " Red Cross Society" was organized in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1864, by delegates 
from the chief nations of the world. Its object is to take care of all sick and wounded sol- 
diers, whether friends or enemies, who may need immediate help. The society also interests 
itself in helping to stamp out the widespread disease of consumption, and it aids in provid- 
ing relief for great calamities. Miss Clara Barton was the founder of the " American National 
Red Cross." Miss Helen Gould of New York, and other wealthy society women in different 
parts of the country, contributed very large sums for the relief of the soldiers and sailors in 
the war, and in some cases they or their friends acted as nurses in the hospitals. 



384 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1898- 

421. The Omaha Exposition ; Cheap Lands; Agricultural Pros- 
perity ; Agricultural Colleges. While the war with Spain was 
going on, an Exposition was opened at Omaha, Nebraska (1898). 
The object of this grand fair was to exhibit to the world the 
marvelous growth and resources of the states and territories west 
of the Mississippi. 

Spain held that vast region when Coronado wandered through 
it in his search for gold (§ 22). Then France laid claim to a large 
part of it (§§ 131, 143). Finally, we purchased the French province 
of Louisiana (§ 215). Seventy years ago the greater part of it was 
an unexplored wilderness. Not a single mile of railway penetrated 
the country ; and the school maps of that day marked a central 
portion, covering many thousand square miles, with the forbidding 
name " Great American Desert." ^ 

The building of railways (§§ 255, 270, 370) and the generous 
offer by the government of cheap lands, and finally of free lands, 
made rapid changes in that part of the country and converted 
the " American Desert " into what is now popularly called the 
" Bread Basket of the World." 

Under the Homestead Act, to which reference has been made 
(§ 371), every permanent settler received 160 acres of land prac- 
tically free of charge. It is estimated that Western farmers have 
taken up so many millions of acres that they cover 260,000 square 
miles. This area is more than four times the size of England and 
Wales, and nearly six times larger than Pennsylvania. Once it was 
the home of the buffalo and the hunting ground of the Indian ; now 
it is cultivated by men who own it, live on it, and prosper by it. 

A noted writer has said that it is a great thing for any one to 
make two ears of corn or two blades of grass grow where only 
one grew before. But the Omaha Exposition showed that the 
Western farmer had done even better than this ; for he made 

1 The Great American Desert : this name was formerly applied to an unexplored region 
lying west of the Mississippi. It had no very definite limits. Later, the name was given 
to a tract of country south and west of Great Salt Lake, Utah. At present the name is 
scarcely ever used, but when it is, it designates a section of the region lying between the 
Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains. Irrigation (see §§ 279, 422) 
is rendering portions of this barren tract increasingly productive. Much of this arid region 
is rich in valuable minerals. 



1898-] THE PRESERVATION OF OUR FORESTS 385 

corn grow where it never grew before, and in some cases he 
made grass spring up where not a blade of it was ever seen. 
Furthermore, he planted groves on land which for hundreds of 
years had been as bare of trees As a barn floor. In many cases 
the farmer's children helped him in this excellent work and they 
now enjoy the results of their labor. 

The liberal government policy which gave homesteads to tens 
of thousands of hard-working, thrifty setders, and thereby enriched 
the country, also gave large tracts of land to each state to estab- 
lish agricultural and mechanical colleges. More than sixty of 
these educational institutions have been founded. In many cases 
they have been productive of much good ; and, if w^ell managed, 
they will sow the seed for a harvest of still greater good. 

The same year (1898) was one of great agricultural prosperity 
for the United States. The West raised enormous crops of grain. 
The foreign demand put up the price. Millions of bushels were 
sent abroad which were paid for in gold, filling the farmer's 
pockets and adding largely to the wealth of the country. 

Since then American farmers and planters have harvested in 
a single season crops of corn, cotton, wheat, and other products of 
the soil, and raised cattle and other animals, which were together 
worth, as estimated by the Secretary of Agriculture, about nine 
billion dollars ! Out of the profits, the producers could have paid 
all the ordinary expenses of the national government for that year 
and still have had a handsome balance left in the banks.^ That 
was thought to be a remarkable year's work ; but we have since 
seen just as great results, or possibly even greater .^ 

422. The Preservation of Our Forests ; Irrigation of Desert 
Regions. Progress has been made in other directions, equally im- 
portant to agriculture and to the country at large. An old maxim 
tells us that a '' penny saved is a penny got." This holds as true 
of millions of dollars as it does of pennies. 

One of- the chief sources of waste in the United States has 
been the unwise destruction of great areas of forest. Where the 

1 The ordinary expenses of the government for that year were a Httle under ^660,000,000. 

2 See government reports for 1918-1920. 



^86 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[IIHJO- 



trees covering a large extent of country are indiscriminately cut 
down or are burned, the streams in that section often become 
devastating torrents in the spring, and then suddenly dry up in 
hot weather. This condition of things has a direct effect on the 
cultivation of the soil and on the production of agricultural wealth. 
Since 1891 the general government and a number of state 
governments have turned their attention to the preservation of 









Salt River Irrigation Dam in Arizona 

forests, the planting of trees, the draining of swamps, and the 
irrigation of desert tracts west of the Rocky Mountains. 

The total forest area in the United States at the beginning of 
1909 was so extensive that it seemed practically inexhaustible.^ 
But out of every hundred acres all but three were privately owned, 
and the demands made on our forests are always increasing. We 
want fencing and firewood, lumber for building, ties for railways, 



1 The total extent of forest, both pubhc and private, was about 600,000,000 acres. 



1900-] GIFTS FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD 387 

and wood pulp to make into printing paper. Then again, every 
year fires break out, which destroy hundreds of thousands of acres 
of standing timber. For these reasons the government authorities 
say that unless great care is taken our privately owned woods — 
however immense they may seem — cannot last long.^ 

To prevent such a deplorable loss, we have now set apart cer- 
tain districts as National F'orests, in order to preserve them and 
so preserve the streams which rise in them.^ A number of states 
do the same. Furthermore, nearly every state has appointed one 
day in the year, called Arbor Day, for tree planting. By these 
means it is hoped that the work of saving the woods, and in some 
cases of actually creating them, may in time prove of much benefit 
to the whole country. 

423. What the People save ; Wealth of the Country ; Gifts for 
the Public Good. Taking the Republic as a whole, no nation in 
the world shows greater power for earning and saving money than 
our own highly favored land. The first three savings banks in 
America were established in 18 16- 18 17 in Philadelphia, Boston, 
and New York. In 1820 the total deposits in these institutions 
amounted to but little more than ^1,000,000. To-day they reach 
far more than five thousand times that sum ! ^ The greater part 
of this mass of money is the result of years of patient toil by 
an army of workers who believe in F'ranklin's advice, '' Save 
and have." 

The steady growth of these banks is an index of the general 
growth in prosperity which is going on to a greater or less extent 
among all classes. The estimated increase of the real and per- 
sonal property of the United States from 1880 to 1890 was nearly 

1 The United States Forest Service reported ten years ago that the demand for lumber, 
railway ties, wood pulp, fencing, etc. required the cutting of over 100,000 acres of timber 
every day in the year. But the demand has grown to many thousands of acres more, and it 
is still growing. 

2 The National Forests west of the Mississippi River now cover about 234,000 square 
miles, or an area larger than all the New England States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia combined. East of the Mississippi we are adding 
National Forests in the White Mountains and at other points along the Atlantic coast. 

3 The total deposits in the savings banks of the United States in 1909 were, in round 
numbers, over )^3, 700,000,000, and in 1916 they were estimated at ^5,352,000,000. After we en- 
tered the Great War (§ 445) many depositors bought Liberty Bonds or War Savings Stamps, 



388 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1900- 



50 per cent. The census returns of 1900 showed that the "true 
valuation," or fair selHng price, of the total property of the country 
on the eve of the beginning of the twentieth century fell only a 
little short of ^100,000,000,000. Ten years later it was roughly 
estimated by the Census Department at $142,000,000,000. Since 
then it has been thought by some to be over $200,000,000,000. 
These figures are so enormous that the only way to get an idea 




Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh 



of what they actually mean is to try to count a single million, then 
you will see what a task is before you. 

It is pleasant to know that side by side with this great accumu- 
lation of property there is wise and generous giving. Ex-President 
Eliot of Harvard University says that no people anywhere have 
equaled our countrymen in what they have done and are doing 
for the support of schools, churches, and charities. 

Figures prove the truth of this statement. Not reckoning what 
was contributed to churches, the private citizens of the United 
States gave, in the course of a single year (1907- 1908), nearly 
half a million dollars for every working day, to help forward 



1900-] THE "OPEN DOOR" IN CHINA 389 

the cause of education, to establish libraries and art museums, 
to endow homes for friendless children or for the aged poor, and 
to build hospitals for the sick and the suffering.^ For many years 
these gifts have averaged more than $100,000,000 a year. 

424. The ** Open Door ** in China ; the Hague Treaty. Be- 
tween 1898 and 1902 five of the great nations of E^urope, with 
Japan, obtained control of important ports and sections of territory 
in China. England wished to have all of these made free to the 
commerce of the world, but the other five nations refused to give 
their consent. John Hay, then our Secretary of State, saved 
China from being broken up into fragments and parceled out 
among the powers of Europe. He too (1900) obtained the great 
privilege called the "open door," It gave every American the 
same right to buy or sell goods in China that any citizen of any 
foreign state possessed. 

Next, the Senate accepted the Hague Peace Conference Treaty. 
By this agreement the United States, with the principal nations 
of Europe and with Japan, bound themselves to maintain a per- 
petual Court ^ of Arbitration in the city of The Hague, the capital 
of Holland. The object of the Court is to do away, as far as 
possible, with war between the nations which signed the treaty.^ 

425. The Gold Standard Act, 1900 ; the Panama Canal. When 
the American government first went into operation the silver dol- 
lar was made the chief measure of value (§§ 202, 373, 396, 400). 

1 This included John D. Rockefeller's gift of 1132,000,000 for the promotion of 
higher education, Mrs. Russell Sage's gift of fiio,ooo,ooo for social service, and Andrew 
Carnegie's gift of ^9,000,000 to the Carnegie Institute, to which he later added another 
^9,000,000. 

Mr. Carnegie's total American benefactions have been estimated at over ^300,000,000, 
and Mr. Rockefeller's, up to 1920, at ^500,000,000. 

From 1900 to the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, the gifts for the public good probably 
amounted to upwards of |li, 500,000, 000. 

During the war our people contributed immense sums to help great numbers of Belgians 
and French and their children, who had lost everything, and who would have perished from 
hunger and cold if we had not sent them food and clothing by shiploads. 

2 In the past the United States has settled many serious disputes with other countries 
by arbitration, that is, by referring the questions to certain persons chosen to consider and 
decide them. See the Alabama case (§ 374) and the Bering Sea case (§ 400). In the same 
way the members of the Hague Court have acted on cases brought to them. 

3 The Hague Court decided its first case — between Mexico and the United States — in 
our favor. 



390 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1900- 



In 1900 a great change took place, and, notwithstanding strong 
opposition, an act was passed which made the gold dollar the 
standard measure of value. Whatever other money the United 
States issues must now, in all cases, come up to this standard. 

Ever since we came into possession of California there had 
been talk of digging a canal from ocean to ocean, either across 
the Isthmus of Panama or by way of Lake Nicaragua. Early 




A Steam Shovel at Work on the Panama Canal 



in the present century (1903) we made a treaty with the South 
American Republic of Colombia for the right of a water way 
across the isthmus ; but later Colombia declined to grant it. The 
people of the isthmus then declared themselves independent of 
Colombia and took the name '' Republic of Panama." We made 
a treaty with the new republic by which we secured the use of 
the Panama Canal Zone, a strip of territory ten miles in width, 
extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, for which we paid 
^10,000,000 besides agreeing to pay a yearly rent of $250,000 



1900-] THE CENSUS OF 1900 391 

more. We next purchased the unfinished F'rench Panama Canal 
for ^40,000,000. We then began digging the new canal. Our trade 
with the countries and states bordering on the Pacific demanded 
the completion of the water way at the earliest practicable date 
(see Map facing p. 380). Still further, our vessels of war needed 
it in order that they might pass quickly and easily from one side 
of the United States to the other, instead of having to make the 
long and dangerous voyage around South America (§ 431). 

426. Census of 1900. The twelfth census (1900) returned the 
total population of the United States at over 76,000,000. This 
showed a large gain over the population reported by the census 
of 1890 (§ 397).^ Figures proved that our commerce was keep- 
ing pace with our growth in numbers. Since then we have risen 
to stand at the head of the nations of the world in the magnitude 
of our foreign trade (see §§ 407, 424). 

427. The Pan-American Exposition ; the Assassination of Presi- 
dent McKinley. The following spring (1901) the Pan-American 
Exposition^ was opened at Buffalo, New York. It was especially 
designed to show the progress made by the nations of North, 
South, and Central America in agriculture, manufactures, and the 
arts. Furthermore, its object was to unite all the nations of the en- 
tire American continent, from Canada to the Argentine Republic, 
in closer commercial intercourse for their common benefit. 

President McKinley visited the Exposition in September and 
made his last speech on that occasion. He then expressed the 
hope that the exhibition might tend to bring the United States 
into broader and freer trade relations with foreign countries. 

The next day (September 6), while holding a reception at the 
Exposition, the President was treacherously shot by a young man 
who came forward to shake hands with him. The assassin^ was 
an avowed anarchist (§ 389), whose object was to destroy the gov- 
ernment. The wickedness of the crime was only equaled by its 
folly, for our history had twice before proved, in the case of the 

1 A gain of more than 20 per cent. 

2 Pan-American Exposition : pan^ a Greek word meaning " all." 

3 Leon F. Czolgosz, the assassin, was the son of an emigrant from central Europe ; he 
was born in the United States. He was executed at Auburn, New York, in 1901. 



392 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [iyuii-iyo4 

assassination of President Lincoln (§ 358) and of President Garfield 
(§ 381), that the murder of the chief magistrate of the American 
Republic cannot overthrow the Republic itself. Mr. McKinley died 
about a week later, and under the provisions of the Constitution 
Vice President Roosevelt became President.^ 

428. A Fourth Great Strike ; the Wireless Telegraph ; the 
Pacific Cable ; the Louisiana Purchase Exposition ; the Portland, 
Oregon, Exposition. In the following spring (1902) the United 
Mine Workers of the hard-coal mines of Pennsylvania struck 




Miners at Work in a 
Coal Mine 

for an increase of wages and for shorter hours. ^ 
More than 140,000 men quit work. It was the 
fourth great historic strike (§§ 377, 397, 401). For the first time 
since the first shovelful of hard coal was dug in Pennsylvania 
(§ 270), all of these mines were shut down. 

The strike lasted a little more than five months. It was finally 
settled (1902) by both parties pledging themselves to abide for 
three years by the decisions of a Coal Strike Commission appointed 

1 See the Constitution, in the Appendix, p. xiv. Paragraph 5, and compare § 392 on the 
Presidential Succession Act. 

2 The United Mine Workers offered to leave the questions in dispute to the decision of 
the Arbitration Committee of the National Civic Association (a body composed of men of 
high standing, representing not only capital and union labor but the interests of the general 
public as well). But the managers of the coal railways declined to accept the offer on the 
ground that they considered that the Arbitration Committee did not have a practical knowl- 
edge of coal mining. 



1902-li)04] 



THE PACIFIC CABLE 



393 



by President Roosevelt. The Commission unanimously awarded a 
moderate increase of wages and some reduction in hours of labor. 
It furthermore required that future disputes should be settled 
by arbitration, and that all men engaged in the mines, whether 
members of the union or independent workers, should be equally 
protected in their right to labor. 

The Commission estimated the cost of the strike to all parties di- 
rectly concerned in it at nearly $100,000,000. But no figures could 
show the loss and suffering endured by the public ; for throughout 
the winter millions of people had to 
choose between doing without fuel 
or paying enormous prices for it. 

Late in the same year (1902) 
another event of much interest oc- 
curred. It will be remembered that 
Americans laid the first telegraphic 
cable to PZurope (§ 367). They now 
finished laying one between San 
PYancisco and Hawaii. The line 
was then carried to Manila, where 
it connects with one to Hongkong, 
China. The next Fourth of July 
President Roosevelt sent a message 
over this cable around the world. 

Meanwhile, President Roosevelt (January 18, 1903) sent his 
kind wishes to King Edward of England by wireless telegraph 
(§ 284) from the station at Wellfleet on Cape Cod. This was the 
first message sent through the air from the United States across 
the Atlantic. It marked another step forward in that wonderful 
development of electrical science which began in this country, 
by Doctor PYanklin's experiments, more than a century and a 
half ago (§ 152). Experiments already referred to (§373) seem 
to show that a wireless telephone is also coming into use to 
some extent. 

On the last day of April (1904) the Louisiana Purchase Exposi- 
tion was opened at St. Louis. It commemorated that day, when, 




Boys at the Mines picking 
Slate out of Coal 



394 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1905- 

a hundred years before, we more than doubled the area of our 
country by the acquisition of the Louisiana territory (§§ 215, 216). 
It showed the marvelous growth of that part of the great West 
lying between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. 

The year following (1905) Portland, Oregon, opened an exposi- 
tion, which proved a great success. It celebrated not only the 
Lewis and Clark Centennial (§ 216), but one of the most interest- 
ing of the "heroic periods" in the history of that part of the 
United States west of the Rocky Mountains. 

429. Summary. The chief events of the administrations of 
Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt (i 897-1905) were (i) the 
enactment of the Dingley high protective tariff ; (2) the war with 
Spain ; the annexation of Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippines ; 
(3) the wonderful agricultural progress of the country west of the 
Mississippi River ; (4) the growth of national wealth and of gifts 
for the public good ; (5) our action in regard to the Panama Canal ; 
(6) the assassination of President McKinley ; (7) the Louisiana 
Purchase Exposition. 

Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) ^ 

430. Roosevelt^ s Administration (Twenty-seventh President, 
One Term, 1905- 1909) ; Some Things Americans are doing in the 
Twentieth Century ; how Disasters are met. In his inaugural 
address President Roosevelt said there are two things that we 
should all resolve to do : first, to keep whatever is good in our 
native land unwasted and unharmed ; secondly, to make that good 
still better, for the sake of those who are coming after us. There 
were many who heard the President's earnest words who could 
truthfully answer. That is what we have been trying to do. 

I. We work to save time — ''the stuff," as Franklin said, "of 
which life is made." 

1 Born in New York, 1858 (§417, note i) ; elected Vice President, 1900; became Presi- 
dent, 1901 ; awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, ^40,000, 1906, with which he endowed the 
Foundation for the Promotion of Industrial Peace; but as no way was found for using 
the money for that purpose it was eventually returned to him. Elected President by the 
Republicans, 1904, over Alton B. Parker, Democrat. 



1905-] 



ROOSEVELT'S ADMINISTRATION 



395 



Our American steam shovels (see p. 390) were then cutting a 
passage for ships across the Isthmus of Panama. This would 
make the voyage from New York to San Francisco 8000 miles 
shorter than that around South America. 

Next, as we have already seen (§§ 250, 251), the state of New 
York was engaged in deepening and enlarging the Erie Canal, 
now called the New York State Barge Canal. When that great 
work was completed, in 19 17, immense new boats, or barges, 
moved by steam or other power, 
could go from Buffalo to New 
York City in six days — just half 
the time that the old boats had 
taken. They can bring millions ( t 
bushels of grain from the West ' 
at much lower rates. This will 
make bread cheaper in the eastei n 
states and in Europe. 

Finally, we are improving and 
extending our railways, and taking 
measures to secure greater safety 
in railway travel. We have many 
more miles of steam roads than 
all the countries of Europe com- 
bined.2 We are increasing the 
speed of trains and are running 

some by electricity. By so doing we save time to every passenger, 
and on every carload of freight ; here time is money. 

2. We are trying to save health, without which life is hardly 
worth living. We are working for the children, so that they may 
grow up with strong bodies and active minds. We are endeavor- 
ing to secure pure food, and our cities and villages are making 
efforts to obtain cleaner streets and better drinking water. 




President Roosevelt 



1 Much of this grain will probably come through the " Soo " Ship Canal, which unites 
Lake Superior with Lake Huron. 

2 The total length of the steam railways of the United States at the close of 1904 exceeded 
212,000 miles, and in 1920 (including Alaska and Hawaii) it exceeded 260,000 miles. Europe 
has less than 200,000 miles. 



39^ LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1905- 

About sixty years ago New York planned the first great pleasure 
ground in this country and named it Central Park. To-day every 
leading American city has one or more such open spaces, includ- 
ing playgrounds for children and ball grounds where all can freely 
enjoy fresh air and sunshine. 

We have laid out national parks on a generous scale. They will 
preserve some of the grandest mountain, river, lake, and forest 
scenery in the world. We have one such park in the Yosemite^ 
Valley in California, another in the valley of the Yellowstone 












Barges in the New York State Canal 

River in Wyoming, a third at Mt. Rainier ^ in Washington, a 
fourth at Crater Lake in Oregon, a fifth, of lakes and glaciers,^ 
in Montana, a sixth in Oklahoma, and a seventh in Colorado. 
These, with the Big Tree Parks in California, cover a space more 
than double that of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. 

Recently the national government has recommended that we 
make a national park of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River 
in Arizona (see p. 25). It is furthermore hoped that our half 



1 Yosemite (yo-sem'i-tee) . 2 Rainier (ray-neer'). 

3 The glaciers (glay'shers) are vast fields of ice which slowly creep down the sides of 
snow-capped mountains, 



1905-1908] 



SOME THINGS WE ARE DOING 



397 



of Niagara Falls may be preserved. Then both will become the 
common property of American citizens for all time. 

3. We are taking steps to save our farming and pasture land, 
our forests, our coal and iron mines, our quarries, our oil fields, 
our natural gas, and the water courses of our country, so that 
they shall be protected against needless waste ; we are reclaim- 
ing vast areas of desert regions by careful irrigation (see p. 386), 
and we are beginning to reclaim extensive marshes by drainage. 
The government at Washington 
employs a number of trained men 
who devote their whole time to 
this most important work. 

These men examine the soils of 
the different states and territories 
to see what crops will grow best 
on them. They try experiments 
with trees, plants, grasses, vege- 
tables, grains, seeds, fruits, and 
flowers. Through their labors our 
farmers are converting swamps, 
sand hills, and stony places into 
broad, fertile fields. In this way, 
too, we are drawing new riches 
from the earth, — the mother of 
nearly all the riches we possess, 
whether they come from cotton 
plantations, from grain, corn, rice, or sugar fields, from fruit or- 
chards, dairy and poultry farms, and cattle ranches, or from 
mines, quarries, forests, and streams. 

In the spring of his last term of office (1908) President Roose- 
velt invited the governors of all the states and territories of the 
Union to meet him in Washington. They gathered there to con- 
sider what action we should take to save these natural resources 
of America, which have just been mentioned (see also p. 31). 
They asked how we could use them to the greatest advantage and 
yet keep them for the longest possible time. It is safe to say that 




^^m, 



One of the Califoi^nia " Big 
Trees" 



398 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1905-1908 

the meeting was the most important one of the kind ever held in the 
history of our country. Great good ought to come from it to us all. 

4. But going beyond these things, we are beginning to try to 
save the wear and tear of human life. Not very much has been 
done in this direction yet, but we look forward with hopeful hearts. 
We believe that the time will come when we shall be able to settle all 
labor disputes in a friendly way. Then strikes and lockouts will prac- 
tically cease. Better work will be done and better results obtained. 

Last of all, we are trying and shall continue trying to determine 
what can be done to save the needless destruction of human life 
by foolish and hasty wars. For, notwithstanding all our progress, 
by far the greater part of our enormous national revenue is still 
spent either in preparation for war or for carrying on war, or in 
discharging debts and pensions incurred in our past wars.^ But we 
find that there is another side to the picture, for it seems probable 
that never before in the history of the world have there been so 
many wise and thoughtful men resolved to do all in their power 
to hold back nations from unnecessary fighting. 

We can truthfully say that, in the main, the influence of 
America has been on the side of peace. Our record in the 
peaceable settlement of our disputes with other nations shows 
that fact (§§ 374, 400, 424). It was also in accordance with this 
principle that President Roosevelt (1905) persuaded Japan and 
Russia to end their terrible war. In the same year the United 
States made treaties or agreements with Mexico and a number of 
the republics of Central America and of South America, which 
may prevent many useless quarrels. Then (1907- 1908) six more 
similar treaties were made with England, France, Italy, Spain, 
Switzerland, and Portugal. 

In these four ways we Americans have resolved to try to save 
time, health, the good earth on which we live, and human life. 

1 Total ordinary expenditures of the national government for 1907 were over $578,000,000 ; 
of this amount over $363,000,000 was spent on the army, the navy, pensions, and payment 
of interest on the national war debt. Since the government was established in 1789 we had 
spent more than $15,000,000,000 on war and less than $5,000,000,000 in other ways; now 
we must add at least $25,000,000,000 for our expenses in the Great War (1917-1918), and 
some estimates would put the amount far higher. 



1905-1908] HOW DISASTERS ARE MET 399 

There are more than 20,000,000 children in our pubHc schools, 
who, we hope, will grow up to take part in this beneficent work. 

But other events show that Americans have begun developing 
a different kind of power. They are manifesting their ability to 
face and overcome widespread disasters and business panics. 

Reference has been made (§ 372) to the conflagrations which 
occurred in Chicago (1871) and in Boston (1872), and to the 
Charleston earthquake (1886). These calamities were followed by 
the Galveston hurricane (1900), which destroyed more than 6000 
lives and property valued at $18,000,000, and which swept away 
much of the very ground on which the city stood. Four years 
later (1904) the great Baltimore fire burned up property worth 
upwards of $50,000,000. In all these cases the citizens have 
more than made good the devastation, and the rapidly growing 
port of Galveston has completed a gigantic sea wall to protect 
the new city for the future. 

Two years later (1906) came a still heavier blow. The Cali- 
fornia earthquake wrought havoc far beyond anything the country 
had ever before experienced. Its destructive force showed itself 
on the greatest scale at San Francisco, where scores of costly 
buildings were overthrown. Fire completed the work of devasta- 
tion. More than 200,000 persons were rendered homeless, and 
property valued at more than $400,000,000 was. destroyed. 

The whole population of the United States rose to send aid to the 
stricken city. It was a demonstration of the fact that with us North, 
South, East, and West form but one country and one people, and 
that the blow which strikes the remotest part is felt by all. 

On the other hand, the inhabitants of San Francisco showed 
their wonderful power of self-help. They proved what Americans 
have proved more than once, that is, that strength of heart and 
strength of will can find ways to turn loss into gain. Standing 
in the midst of confusion and desolation, they set their hands to 
the work, and above the ruins and the ashes of their old horrie 
they have built a new and grander city. 

In the same spirit the business men of our entire country met 
the money panic (§§ 275, 312, 373, 400) of a later date (1907). 



400 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1907-1909 

Wise action saved us from what might have been the destruction 
of many great industries employing many workmen. 

431. Admission of Oklahoma ; Three Important Laws ; Cruise 
of Our Fleet; Japan; Presidential Election (1908). During 1907 
Congress admitted the state of Oklahoma (§ 394) — rich above 
all others in oil wells. It was formed by uniting Oklahoma Ter- 
ritory and Indian Territory. This made a total of forty-six states. 




Copyriglit, UiuJerwi.,,,! .V V 

Our Fleet leaving Hampton Roads on its Voyage round 
THE World 

" Good-by and good luck," — President Roosevelt's last words to Admiral 
Evans, commander of the fleet. 

Congress also passed three other bills of great importance. 
They were the Railway Rate Bill, — intended to give greater power 
to the Interstate Commerce Act (§ 392), — the Pure Food and 
Drugs Bill, and the Meat Inspection Bill. The object of the two 
last-mentioned laws was to protect the health of the people and, 
at the same time, to encourage all dealers to offer for sale the 
best and most wholesome foods. 

Near the close of the year (1907) a fleet of twenty of our vessels 
of war (§ 395), including sixteen first-class battle ships, left Hampton 



1907-1909] SUMMARY 401 

Roads, Virginia, on a voyage to San Francisco and Seattle. The 
fleet carried 15,000 men. It passed down, along the eastern coast 
of South America, and, going through the dangerous Strait of 
Magellan, reached San Francisco in May (1908) (see Map fac- 
ing p. 380). Visits were paid to the northern Pacific coast and 
to Hawaii, Manila, Japan, China, and Australia. The fleet then 
passed through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, and, before 
leaving for home, furnished relief to the earthquake sufferers in 
southern Italy (1909). The total distance covered was estimated 
at about 40,000 miles. Never before in the history of the world 
had so large a fleet undertaken so long a voyage. It showed many 
nations our power upon the Pacific, and it was good for them and 
for us that they did see it. One such effect appeared when the 
Japanese minister at Washington and our Secretary of State 
pledged themselves to endeavor to maintain peace in the Pacific 
between America and Japan and to follow the policy of the late 
Secretary Hay (§ 424) in doing justice to the rights of China. 

Meanwhile the Democratic party had nominated William J. 
Bryan for the presidency and the Republican party had nominated 
and elected William H. Taft. 

432. Summary. President Roosevelt originated the important 
movement which declared that the soil, forests, mines, quarries, 
and streams of the nation should be used for the good of the whole 
people, and should be safeguarded against waste and destruction. 

Side by side with this great undertaking, the American people 
were endeavoring to make improvements in saving health, time, 
and life. Their resolute and helpful spirit was likewise shown in 
the way they met such calamities as the earthquake and fire at 
San Francisco. 

Other noteworthy events were the admission of the State of 
Oklahoma, the passage of the Railway Rate Bill dealing with 
commerce between the states, and the enactment of laws to secure 
pure-food supplies and pure drugs and medicines. 

Finally, one of the most interesting occurrences of Mr. Roose- 
velt's presidency was the brilliant success of the voyage of the fleet 
of twenty United States war ships round the world. 



402 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1909-1913 

William H. Taft (Republican)^ 

433. Taft's Administration (Twenty-eighth President, 1909- 
1913); how we made a Remarkable Discovery. Mr. Taft had 
been President but little more than a month when an event of 
great interest occurred. Commander Robert E. Peary, an officer 
in the United States navy, since created a Rear Admiral, set out 
very early in the spring, from the shore of the Arctic Ocean, on 

an exploring expedition northward 
across the ice (see Map on oppo- 
site page). Toward the end of the 
first week in April he succeeded in 
getting to a point far beyond that 
which any previous explorer had 
attained. No land was in sight ; 
nothing, in fact, but a seemingly 
endless expanse of frozen sea. 

Pushing on, he came to a place 
which the brave navigators of many 
nations had tried in vain to reach 
for a hundred years. It looked to 
them, and to the world, as though 
Nature had barred out all advance 
in that direction and was resolved 
to keep the secret of that desolate 
region to herself. Commander Peary believed that he had won 
the great victory. He felt sure that he had actually reached the 
North Pole. If his reckonings were free from error, — and they 
have been accepted by high authorities, — then he stood, at last, 
where no civilized man ever stood before. 

There, on a heap of ice, at the very top of the globe, he 
planted the Stars and Stripes, and so marked, with the American 




William H. Taft 



1 William H. Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857. He graduated at Yale Univer- 
sity, and in 1883 began the practice of law in his native city. In 1892 he was appointed a 
judge in the United States Circuit Courts. In 1901 he was appointed the first civil governor 
of the Philippines. In 1904 he became Secretary of War in President Roosevelt's Cabinet. 
In 1908 he was elected President. 



190f>-1913] 



POPULATION 



403 



flag, what we may rightfully consider the most interesting and 
noteworthy geographical discovery of modern times.^ 

434. The Payne Tariff. In the course of the following summer 
(1909) Congress passed a new tariff law (§ 406). President Taft 
stated that he was convinced' that it reduced the duties on several 
hundred classes of imported goods. Many people, however, both 
Democrats and Republicans, felt dissatisfied with the result and 
called for greater and more extended reductions. Congress passed 
several bills securing some of these reductions, that on wool and 
woolen goods being the most impor- 
tant, but the President considered 
it his duty to veto them. 

435. Population ; Food Supply ; 
Wealth ; Transportation and Com- 
munication ; Panama Canal. In 
taking the national census of 19 10 
the Government employed no less 
than 70,000 enumerators to count 
the people living under the protec- 
tion of the American flag and owing 
allegiance to it. The enumerators 
found that the population of the 
continental United States was nearly 
92,000,000, and that including all 
our island possessions it was over 100,000,000 (see Table of 
States in the Appendix, p. xxviii). America not only feeds these 
millions from her own soil, — and feeds them well, too, — but 
our farmers are able, besides, to export great quantities of food 
to other countries (§ 407). 

Furthermore, estimates made by the Census Department showed 
that the wealth of the Republic had increased even more rapidly 
than its population. To realize what this means we must consider 
the total value of our cities, towns, farms, mines, forests, and 
quarries ; next of our mills and factories ; then of our railways. 




Peary's Route to the Pole 



1 On December 14, 
South Pole. 



191 1, Commander Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer, discovered the 



404 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1909-1913 

canals, telegraph and telephone lines, electric-light and electric- 
power plants, together with all other public-service corporations. 
Finally, we must count the money deposited in our National 
Banks and Trust Companies, and add to it ^5,000,000,000, and 
more, of the people's earnings held by Savings Banks (includ- 
ing the Government Postal Savings Banks, established in 191 1). 
Having done this, we shall realize that America then stood at the 
head of the richest nations of the world. ^ 

In this connection we see, too, that while our numbers and our 
wealth have grown vastly greater, our means for rapid transportation 
and communication have also gained in very marked degree. 

In addition to the progress we have made in extending steam 
railways (§ 255) and telegraph and telephone lines (§ 284), we have 
built many thousand miles of electric railways (§ 373). These elec- 
tric roads form a vast network of cheap and convenient transit for 
the inhabitants of cities, towns, and farming districts. 

Besides the lines of steam cars and electric cars owned and 
operated by companies, our people possess an immense number of 
private cars or automobiles. These vehicles, aside from their use for 
pleasure riding, enable an increasing number of men to carry on 
their business in cities, while they have their homes in the country. 

On the other hand, if we go into the country, we find that many 
farmers are taking advantage of these convenient machines. The 
tiller of the soil who owns a " gasoline horse " is able to carry his 
light produce to market, a score of miles away from his farm, 
and he can also use that '' horse " to do certain kinds of farm 
work. If he prefers a larger and more powerful machine, he can 
seed, cultivate, and harrow the soil, and he can also haul heavy 
loads of grain long distances.^ He does this as easily as city 

1 Estimates rated the wealth of Germany in 19 lo at ^60,000,000,000, that of France at 
$65,000,000,000, that of the British Isles at $80,000,000,000, and that of the United States 
at $142,000,000,000 ; in 1912 the Census Bureau at Washington estimated our wealth at over 
$187,000,000,000. Since then some authorities consider that it has risen to a much higher 
figure — $220,000,000,000 (unofficial estimate in 1917). See World Almanac for 1920, p. 508. 

2 Automobile machines are now employed, to a considerable extent, for plowing, mowing, 
thrashing, and doing other kinds of heavy farm work. Some large landowners in the West 
practically keep no horses, but only machines. The total number of automobiles registered 
in the United States in 1915 was 2,000,000 ; the present number is estimated at over 6,000,000. 



1909-1913] 



PANAMA CANAL 



405 



teamsters drive their auto-trucks, piled high with boxes and bales, 
from steamship docks to warehouses. 

The steam locomotive, which made its first trip (in this country) 
nearly a hundred years ago, revolutionized the transportation of 
passengers and freight (§ 254). To-day electric cars and automo- 
biles are accomplishing a second revolution.^ In time their work 
may show results as great as that of steam. Even now we must 
thank automobiles for the good roads they have induced us to 
build and for the Lincoln and Dixie Highways.^ 

In this connection attention should be called to the fact that 
the completion of the Panama Canal ^ from ocean to ocean (§425) 




Electric Train in the Rockies 



(see Map facing p. 380, also p. 407) opens up new sea routes. 
It is admitted by public men everywhere that these routes cannot 
fail to have very important effects on the trade and commerce of 
the United States and of other great nations of the world. 

1 The use of electricity for propelling trains on steam railways has made considerable 
progress. Such trains are in operation through the Hoosac and other tunnels, and also 
between New York City and New Haven, Connecticut. In recent years the use of these 
motors has been greatly extended, especially through the Rocky Mountains. 

2 The great Lincoln Highway, now in large measure completed, extends from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific — connecting New York City with San Francisco ; while the great Dixie High- 
way, when completed, will connect New Orleans, and other important cities of the South, 
with Chicago and other leading cities of the North. 

3 The Panama Canal with its approaches is 50 miles long ; it can be used by the largest 
vessels. The artificial lake, created by the Gatun Dam on the Chagres River, is over 24 miles 
in length, and the Culebra Cut, through the Culebra Hills, is 9 miles long. The total cost 
of the canal was estimated at about ^400,000,000. 



4o6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1909-1913 



zona. 



436. The Peace Movement ; Admission of New Mexico and Ari- 

Early in the census year (19 10) Mr. Edwin Ginn of Boston 
gave a large sum of money to establish and carry on the World 
Peace Foundation to promote the friendship of nations. Later on, 
Andrew Carnegie gave $ 1 0,000,000 to form a similar Peace Fund, 
and a society was organized in New York for the purpose of 
hastening " the abolition of international war." 

Several other well-known societies in our country began work- 
ing for the same object. One of the most active of them was 
g^nnected with the World Peace Founda- 
tion. It endeavored to enlist the teachers 
and the school children of America in the 
great work of cultivating a desire for the 
amicable settlement of national disputes. 
On the other hand, the United States, 
and, in fact, the leading powers of the 
globe generally, seemed to believe that it 
was best to keep a " big stick " ready for 
emergencies. F'or this reason they en- 
couraged , the manufacture of every kind 
of improved firearms ; so, too, they con- 
tinued to build battle ships, torpedo boats, 
' ' submarines, " and ' ' destroyers . ' ' Not satis- 
fied with doing all this, they constructed 
war balloons and aeroplanes (§373), in 
order that men might fight in the air, just as they fought not only 
on land and sea but even under the sea. Still, though the govern- 
ments of the world were not willing to bind themselves to renounce 
the help of sword, shot, and shell in time of trouble, they were 
none the less making efforts to avoid using these death-dealing 
implements with the frequency they formerly did. 

On the whole, the workers for peace thought the outlook was in 
many ways hopeful. The Japanese ambassador at Washington de- 
clared that he firmly believed that the time was coming when the 
great contests between nations would be fought out not by armies 
but by a few eminent statesmen. When they met he hoped it would 




1909-1913] SIXTEENTH AMENDMENT 40/ 

be in the " Palace of Peace " at The Hague (§ 424), and that they 
would carry no weapons more formidable than fountain pens. 

Meanwhile we have added two new stars to our national flag, — 
that glorious banner which, while it stands for twenty years of 
victorious war,i and of war nearly always waged in behalf of liberty 
and of human rights, stands also for more than one hundred years 
of honorable and prosperous peace. The two new stars represent 
the admission of New Mexico and Arizona (191 2) to our great 
family of states, which now numbers forty-eight in all. These states 
embrace the whole continental area of the Republic, from ocean 
to ocean, except the immense territory of Alaska (§ 368), — that 
territory so rich in natural resources and so full of promise for 
the future (see Maps facing pp. 358, 380). 

437. Presidential Election (191 2); Parcel Post; Sixteenth Amend- 
ment. Three leading candidates competed for the highest office 
in the gift of the American people. The Republicans renominated 
William H. Taft ; the Progressives (a new party made up largely 
of men who had withdrawn from the regular Republican and 
Democratic parties) nominated ex-President Roosevelt ; while the 
Democrats nominated Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey. 
The political campaign ended in the election of Woodrow Wilson 
to the presidency by a very large majority of the electoral vote. 

Near the close of President Taft's administration the Parcel 
Post was established (191 3). It soon proved itself of the greatest 
practical advantage to people all over the country. Shortly after- 
ward the Sixteenth Amendment (§437) was added to the Con- 
stitution of the United States (Appendix, p. xxiii). It was a most 
important measure, for it gave Congress " power to lay and collect 
taxes on incomes " in a way that it had never possessed before. 
We shall see (§ 439) that Congress did not let the new power 
he idle long; and after we entered the Great War (§445), this 
tax yielded more money than a first-class gold mine. 

1 The twenty years comprise the American Revolution (§190), the war with Tripoli 
(§ 214), the War of 1812 (§ 226), the war with Mexico (§290), the Civil War (§ 320), — a 
victory for the welfare of North and South alike,— and the war with Spain (§414). Now 
we must add our part (1917-1918) in the Great War, which convulsed the world as no 
conflict ever did before. 



408 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [iiioy-i9i3 

438. Summary. The chief events of President Taft's admin- 
istration were (i) the discovery of the North Pole; (2) the .pas- 
sage of a new tariff, which reduced duties to some extent ; (3) the 
census of 1910, showing the growth of the nation in numbers and 
wealth and the great increase in our means of rapid transportation 
by electric cars and automobiles ; (4) the movement for the pro- 
motion of peace and of the friendship of nations ; (5) the admis- 
sion of New Mexico and Arizona ; (6) the presidential election ; 
(J) establishment of the Parcel Post ; (8) the Sixteenth Amend- 
ment to the Constitution of -the United States. 

WooDROW Wilson (Democrat) ^ 

439. Wilson's Administration (Twenty-ninth President, Two 
Terms, 1913- ); Gettysburg; Seventeenth Amendment ; New 
Tariff. Early in July (191 3) a memorable meeting took place on 
the battlefield of Gettysburg (§ 343). There President Wilson 
spoke to more than fifty thousand veterans representing both armies 
of the Civil War. These men who, fifty years before, fought each 
other on that historic ground, now met as friends and brothers. The 
" blue " and the " gray " stood for a united country. They clasped 
each other's hands ; they ate together ; they sang '' America " 
together ; they joined in decorating the thousands of soldiers' 
graves in that great national cemetery. It was an occasion full 
of meaning — one that never can be forgotten in our history. 

Meanwhile another amendment — the Seventeenth (§ 439) — had 
become a part of the Constitution of our country. It declared that 
in future United States senators must be elected directly "by the 
people " instead of by the State legislatures (Appendix, p. xxiii). 

In the following autumn (191 3) Congress passed a new tariff 
law (§ 434), which made many changes. Under it wool, meat, 
lumber, flour, and coal were admitted free of duty.^ Furthermore, 
the duties on woolen goods, and on a great variety of articles 

1 Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, 1856; graduated at Princeton Univer- 
sity, New Jersey ; became professor of jurisprudence and political economy, and then president 
of the University; wrote an American History; in 1910 was elected governor of New Jersey. 

2 Sugar was to come in free after May i, 1916 ; but the tax was continued. 



1913- 



NEW BANKS 



409 



manufactured abroad, were much reduced. Finally, the new tariff 
— known as the Underwood Tariff — levied on all persons in the 
United States (with some exceptions) an Income Tax (§ 437) on 
whatever income they receive above $3000.1 

440. New Banks ; Panama Canal ; Mexico. Having completed 
the tariff, Congress next took up the great question of how to 
improve the banking system of the country. The National Banks 
which the government organized 
during the Civil War (§ 324) had 
been of immense service for many 
years ; but the time finally came 
when it seemed necessary to make 
certain changes in them. The 
panic of 1907 (§430) had a good 
deal to do with these proposed 
changes. At that period money 
became so scarce that it was diffi- 
cult for those who did business 
with the banks to borrow what was 
required for carrying on trade or 
even to get enough to pay work- 




Woo d row Wilson 



In order to prevent such cases 
of ''tight money " in future. Con- 
gress passed a new banking law (191 3). Under that law the 
United States was divided into twelve districts, and a central 
bank called a '' Federal Reserve Bank " was established in each 
district. These twelve new banks get their name from the fact 
that they hold ''reserves," or supplies of money furnished by the 
government. Every National Bank has the right to borrow some 
of that money for the use of its depositors and customers in case 
of need,2 but that right depends on this condition : those who 
want to borrow must give good security for the loan. 

1 After we entered the Great War this tax was enormously increased. 

2 Every National Bank in each district must become a " member " of the " Federal Re- 
serve Bank " of that district by purchasing a certain amount of stock in the Reserve Bank 
and paying for it in gold. 



4IO LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1914r 



The new banks began to do business in November, 19 14. 

Meantime Colonel George W. Goethals/ the chief engineer of 

the Panama Canal and the Governor of 
the Canal Zone, opened the great water 
way to commerce. On August 15, 19 14, 
a large ocean steamship, fully loaded, 
led the way, and passed through from 
ocean to ocean. You will see that the 
official seal which the governor uses 
tells the whole story of the gigantic un- 
dertaking — the most remarkable of its 
kind that the world has ever completed. 
Attention has already been called to the fact that the canal will 

provide new and shorter routes of trade to many countries ^ (see 





Steamer passing through the Panama Canal 



Map facing p. 380). Moreover, it will give our battle ships speedy 
access to all important ports on both sides of the entire American 

1 Goethals (go'thals). 

2 Serious earth-slides at times blocked the canal, but now that they appear to be finally 
overcome we can expect that our Atlantic coast will be brought into permanent communica- 
tion with all our western ports and with our islands in the Pacific ; also with the western 
ports of Mexico and South America, and with Japan, China, the East Indies, Australia, and 
New Zealand. 



1914-] 



THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR 



411 



continent. This may prove a decided help to us in our efforts to 
restore peace to the unfortunate Republic of Mexico, where civil 
war has been raging for a num- 
ber of years over the question 
of who shall be its President.^ 

441. The Great European 
War ; Proclamation of Neutral- 
ity. While these events were 
happening, a great war — the 
greatest perhaps that was ever 
fought in the history of the world 
— set Europe aflame. It v;as 
the first war in which two Ameri- 
can inventions, the submarine 
(§ 220) and the aeroplane, that 
" eye in the sky " which sees all 
things (§ 373), were employed 
with terrible effect.^ The contest 
began early in August, 1 9 1 4 ; on 
one side Germany and Austria 
marshaled their forces ; on the 
other, Russia, France, and Eng- 
land rose against them. Presi- 
dent Wilson promptly issued a 
proclamation of neutrality on 
the part of the United States. 
The next day he declared that we should be glad to act in the 




Commander Read's Flight across 

THE Atlantic 

(See p. 344.) 



1 In April, 1914, the United States demanded that General Huerta, commander of the 
Mexican Federal army, should fire a salute to the American flag as an apology for the arrest 
of some of our sailors who landed at Tampico, Mexico, from a boat carrying the Stars and 
Stripes, for the purpose of buying some gasoline. Huerta refused our demand. President 
Wilson accordingly dispatched war ships to blockade Tampico. Furthermore, these ships 
had orders to seize the very important port of Vera Cruz, in order to prevent a large quantity 
of artillery and ammunition from being landed there and transported to Huerta's army in 
the City of Mexico. In taking Vera Cruz nineteen Americans were killed. President Wilson 
declared that our blockade of Mexican ports was not directed against the people of Mexico, 
but against Huerta. The Mexican civil war still continues, but under new leaders. 

'^ The machine gun, the caterpillar tractor, or "tank," and barbed wire (for defenses and 
entanglements) were also American inventions which were used in the Great War. 



412 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [I9l(i-l9l7 

interest of European peace whenever the nations ^ at war might 
ask our assistance. Meanwhile our people sent over large sup- 
plies of money, food, and clothing to relieve distress caused by 
the war. 

442. The San Francisco Fair ; the Telephone ; Mexico. While 
the awful struggle was going on, the World's Fair in San F^'rancisco 
was opened in 191 5 to celebrate the discovery of the Pacific by 
Balboa (§ 19) and the completion of the Panama Canal (§ 440). 
In preparation for that event a long-distance line of telephone 
(§ 373) had been carried across the continent. Over the wires of 
that line San Francisco heard, for the first time, the deep tones 
of the Liberty Bell struck in Philadelphia (§ 167), and Phila- 
delphia, in like manner, heard the bugler in San Francisco as he 
responded with the '' Star-Spangled Banner." All who listened 
to those wonderful sounds felt that now the F'ar East and the 
Far West were united as they had never been united before. 

Early in March, 19 16, a band of Mexican outlaws (§ 440), under 
the command of General Villa, crossed the frontier line, burned 
part of Columbus, New Mexico, and killed a number of the in- 
habitants. The outlaws were driven back by United States cavalry. 
A small army of American troops then entered Mexico in pursuit 
of Villa, but he managed to escape. Later we withdrew from the 
contest without having accomplished anything decisive. The revo- 
lutionists are still fighting at intervals, and no peace is in sight. 

443. The Presidential Election (191 6). There were two chief 
candidates for the presidency. The Republican party nominated 
Charles E. Hughes, an Associate Justice of the United States 
Supreme Court, who had been governor of New York ; and the 
Democratic party nominated and elected President Wilson for a 
second term. 

444. We buy Several Islands. Early in 19 17 we purchased 
St. Thomas and two other very small islands from Denmark. The 

1 In June, 1914, the Crown Prince of Austria was assassinated. The Austrian govern- 
ment held Serbia responsible for the act, and made certain demands on Serbia, some of 
which that kingdom felt obliged to reject. Austria attacked Serbia, July 29. Russia pre- 
pared to protect the Serbians. This action became the occasion of the Great European War, 
involving five of the leading Powers, besides Serbia and Belgium. 



191(5-1917] AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 413 

group is called the Virgin Islands. They are within sight of Porto 
Rico, and with that island they form the " American West Indies." 
We made the purchase in order to get possession of the famous 
harbor of St. Thomas, because it will be of great value as a gather- 
ing place for the fleets of our navy both in peace and in war. 
It is also nearer to the Panama Canal (§ 440) than any similar 
harbor on our coast. (See Map facing p. 380.) 

445. America enters the Great War. The terrible conflict in 
Europe (§ 441), which counted its combatants and its slain by 
millions, gave rise to very serious problems in regard to our free 
use of the sea — a use for which we have always contended. 

In the struggle the German submarines, violating all law^s of 
war, deliberately destroyed American merchant ships and Ameri- 
can lives.^ Our government protested against this willful destruc- 
tion, but it did not stop. Finally (April 2, 19 17), President Wilson 
urged Congress to declare war against the German government.^ 
Congress declared war ^ and directed the President to employ the 
entire army and navy of the United States to push the contest 
''to a successful termination." America, England, and P>ance 
agreed to act together.^ We had two imperative reasons for 
entering the war : 

1. To protect our rights, as Americans, against the attacks of 
Germany. 

2. To uphold the rights of other free and friendly nations 
which the Kaiser, and his military forces, had set out to destroy. 

1 The German submarines, instead of endeavoring to capture these merchant ships and 
to save the hves of those on board, ruthlessly sent them to the bottom, as President Wilson 
declared, " without warning and without thought of help or mercy." 

2 In his address to Congress President Wilson said: ''We have no quarrel with the 
German people. We have no feeling toward them but one of sympathy and friendship," 

3 Declaration of War (April 6, 1917). "Whereas, the Imperial German Government 
has committed repeated acts of war against the Government and the people of the United 
States of America ; therefore be it 

^^Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, 
in Congress assembled, that the state of war between the United States and the Imperial 
German Government which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally 
declared." The vote in the Senate stood 82 for war to 6 against it, and in the House t,-];^ 
for war to 50 against it. 

^ Russia was an ally until put out of the war by a revolution ; later Italy joined 
the Allies, 



414 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1917-1918 

Did we as a nation fully realize what we had determined to do ? 
Yes, we knew that our Regular Army was very small, that, all told, 
it was less than 130,000 men, while the Kaiser's forces seemed 
to be well-nigh endless. Furthermore, we knew that the Kaiser's 
navy had been greatly strengthened and was probably much larger 
than ours. Finally, we knew that when we entered the war we 
must pour out money in an almost continuous stream. But we had 
resolved that no matter what the cost might be we would, if neces- 
sary, raise millions of men, thousands of millions of dollars, and 
build great fleets of ships to carry on the conflict. 

446. How we got the Men, the Money, and the Ships. To 
begin with, a considerable number of young men volunteered to 
fight ; later we made out a list of the names of all the men in the 
United States between the ages of twenty-one and thirty inclu- 
sive — about ten millions. Then we drafted four millions of these 
by drawing lots. Half of them we sent to France to fight against 
the German army there ; the remaining half we kept in training 
camps at home until they should be wanted, but the Great War 
ended before they were called for. 

Next, Congress asked the people of our country for twelve 
thousand millions of dollars to pay the expenses of the first year 
in the war.^ 

This enormous amount, the largest that our government had 
ever asked for since the United States came into existence, was 
raised in two ways : first, by taxing, in some form, the entire 
population of the country ; secondly, by the National Govern- 
ment's issuing Liberty Bonds and War-Savings Stamps, which 
were bought by multitudes of citizens and by many young people. 
They felt that as loyal Americans they must use their money 
to push the war forward, and they knew that they would receive 
every dollar back, with interest, after a certain number of years. 

1 In order that we may get some idea of what such a demand meant, let us reckon up 
the amount in gold (§ 425). A hundred and twenty-eight 20-dollar pieces, worth ^2560, will 
weigh ten pounds, and a ton will be worth ^512,000. Now suppose we load some three- 
ton coal trucks, each fifteen feet in length, with such gold pieces. One truck could carry 
^1,536,000; while a thousand trucks could carry $1,536,000,000. At that rate it would take 
between seven and eight thousand trucks, extending in a straight line over twenty miles, to 
deliver the whole sum which Congress called for, namely, $12,000,000,000. 




f 




WW 




l^wl 




^4faii* 


^i:^l 


itHHlK^E 




ilNHP^R 




W^w"'^ 


^^' '''' m 


BBr J/ 


'J^m 



GENERAL PERSHING 



ADMIRAL SIMS 




marshal foch marshal haig 

Commanders in the Great War 



4i5 



4l6 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1017-1018 

Where our Men fought in the Great War (see Map opposite). The first highly 
important battle we took part in (July, 19 18) was fought to save Paris. The 
Germans had reached the ancient town of Chateau-Thierry on the River Marne. 
They had crossed the river and were only forty miles from the capital of France. 

The French force was far larger than ours, yet we had more than twice as 
many men as the Union army had at the battle of Gettysburg (§ 343). 

The combined French and American forces drove the Germans back. They 
retreated slowly, fighting all the time, but were gradually pushed farther and 
farther away, and Paris was saved. 

In September General Pershing moved forward with an " all- American army," 
to which he joined a limited French force. Our men won a sweeping victory which 
cleared the Germans out of the town of St. Mihiel on the River Meuse. 

We captured that place in order to get the way open to go along the banks of 
the Meuse to the strongly fortified city of Verdun on that river. Near that city 
we again met the enemy and smashed through his lines. 

The Crown Prince, the eldest son of the Kaiser, had long been pounding at 
the Verdun forts. He boasted that his armies would make Verdun their gateway 
to the heart of France. But the sturdy French patriots who defended the city 
shouted, " They shall not pass ! " and the Germans who tried to jam through found 
that it was not a gateway, but a graveyard. 

Again setting out, Pershing's '' all-American army" advanced along the banks 
of the Meuse into that part of France called the Argonne. It is a region as big 
as the state of Rhode Island. The eastern side of it has rocky hills a thousand 
feet high, and on the west .there are miles of dense forests in which it is difficult 
to move about. The Germans had planted nests of machine guns among the 
trees and surrounded them with barbed-wire entanglements which they defied 
the "Yanks" to get through. 

But our boys clambered up the hills, picked their way through the thick woods, 
and broke down the entanglements. They went on fighting desperately in this 
manner not simply for days but for weeks. Finally they " squeezed out" the last 
German. It was a wonderful piece of work. 

When the ugly job was over, Pershing's army started along the banks of the 
Meuse again, on its last great expedition — that was, to recover the French city of 
Sedan, which had fallen into German hands. 

The enemy was determined not to give it up, because a railway from the 
German city of Metz ran through it, bringing immense supplies of food and 
ammunition for his army. On November 6-7, 1918, we drove the Germans out 
and cut off all these supplies. 

During the whole of this time — from July to November — British, French, and 
American troops had been busy farther west, hammering, pushing, and driving the 
enemy day and night. The Germans saw that the end was coming. The victory at 
Sedan marked that end, and a few days later, November 11, they surrendered. 

Nearly a year afterward (September, 1919) the French Commander in Chief 
bade General Pershing farewell. He spoke with deep feeling of what the American 
army — living or dead — had done for France. Clasping the General's hand he 
said, " We shall never forget their deeds or their graves." 




ames R. 




C^ NOR TH SEA 



O^^^^RL^'^ 



S?-Ai 



N G L A N D 

Dover oj ^o*"'" Ostend 

t V Dunkirk^ ' >,.- v - 

"^ ^ ^ ^,^^^^JNP Antwerp 



\ 



ENGLISH 
CHANNEL 



Calais 



Brussels 

K o I ouvain 



A> c J^aiaia i 
•°^ ' , ? oYpres 

Boulogne X^jn _^ 

- ^y < ^ 

Lille ° K Waterloo O _ ^ 

V ViU Q Liege 

Lens o ^ \ o Mons 

^_ Matnur 9"^ 
Cambrain ** ^-j J > 

^ . ^1..^ ^ \ J ^ 

Amiens o ^--S-iTeronno i ^ 



eronno 
o St.Quentin 





xemburg 



St.Miliiel^ ^ SeichJ^rey •^ . /^ ^n^; 



^ /Strassburg 



^^-i/ arrows show movements of our iroops : on 

right ^ Pershing's main aimy ; on left, Americans 

acting with French and British aiTtiies 



o Chaamont 




Where our Men fought in the Great War 



Chateau-Thierry (shah-toe' tee-er'y). Marne (mam). St. Mihiel (sanme-yel'). Meuse (muze). 
Verdun (ver-dun'). Argonne (ar-gon'). Sedan (se-dan'). Metz (mets). 



1918] 



HOW WE GOT MEN, MONEY, AND SHIPS 



417 



'^f^ 




lltv/^S!*.-^^-^^ I 1 i I 











^^^ 



A Prosperous Town in Western P'rance 



f T 








The Same Town after the Germans had shelled it 

The next question is, How did we get so many ships for 
carrying on the war ? The answer is, We built a very large num- 
ber of them, we hired some, we borrowed others from England 
or France, and, last of all, we seized over a hundred German 



41 8 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [1917-1918 

steamships — several of immense size — whiqh were in our ports 
when we began the war. They proved of great use to us. 

Our first real act of war was to send Admiral Sims with 
a squadron of war ships to cooperate with the British navy in 
their battle with the German submarines. Next we sent General 
Pershing with a part of our Regular Army to Europe — a thing 
we had never done before. Pershing's troops landed in France.^ 
Later, we began to send over the men of our new National Army 
that we had drafted and trained at home. We kept on sending 
them until in time they numbered over 2,000,000. 

These men, like those of our Regular Army that had preceded 
them, joined the French and British troops in their desperate 
fight with the immense German army that had taken possession of 
Belgium. Not satisfied with that conquest the enemy was deter- 
mined to over-run France or else leave its flourishing cities and 
towns masses of smoking ruins. But Pershing's men resolved 
that they would never return to America until they with the 
Allies had driven the Germans out of France and Belgium and 
had forced the Kaiser to confess that he was beaten. What they 
resolved they accomplished in full measure. 

No braver or better men than our soldiers ever rushed forward 
to win a war. We are proud of them because they helped in 
no small measure to make November 11, 1918, "Victory Day." 
Then Germany laid down her arms ; then she gave up her hold 
on Belgium and France ; then she had to stand aside and open 
the road for the Allied armies to enter the Rhine Valley and 
take control of the famous river which flows through the fairest 
section of what had been the Kaiser's empire. The Great War 
was over. The forces contending for justice and for liberty had 
fought their way to peace — a peace which, we earnestly hope 

1 A large number of our countrymen who fought under Pershing were of German birth 
or of German descent, but the lists of killed and wounded show that they proved themselves 
Americans to the core. So, too, we sent " over there " more than seven thousand Indians 
from the West and not less than two hundred thousand negro troops. No troops saw harder 
fighting or did better work. General Crowder and others have testified to the soldierly 
qualities of these black men. The valor of one regiment won for it the much coveted War 
Cross, awarded to it by the French government. Though they were descendants of slaves, 
they stood ready to give their lives on the battlefield to keep America free. 




Fershiing's Victorious Army in Washington 



419 



420 LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



[1920- 



and fervently believe, will be for the lasting advantage of every 
nation of Europe and of the whole world. ^ 

447. General Summary. In this book we have endeavored to 
trace the progress of our country from its earliest period to the 
present time. We have seen it grow from a few feeble colonies 
planted along the Atlantic coast to a group of thirteen sturdy 

and independent states. We 
have followed the develop- 
ment of that commonwealth 
of states and their added terri- 
tories into a great, prosperous, 
and powerful nation, which 
numbered at the last census 
(1910) over 100,000,000 peo- 
ple, but now numbers many 
more, and which not only ex- 
tends from ocean to ocean 
but embraces important islands 
in both the Atlantic and the 
Pacific.^ The total Continental 
area of the United States comprises the chief part of the land of 
North America. It is considerably greater than the area of Conti- 
nental Europe, and, with the exception of Russia in Asia,^ it covers 

1 The Great Peace Conference. In January, 1919, President Wilson, and other noted 
men, representing the United States, England, France, Italy, and Japan, which had together 
fought against the Kaiser, met in Paris. There they framed and adopted the Covenant of 
the League of Nations which pledged them to maintain all honorable methods of peace and 
to earnestly endeavor to make war less frequent on the earth. 

Next, the Conference drew up a treaty of peace which was given to Germany to read 
and sign. Among many other things, the treaty demanded (i) that Germany should give 
up part of her territory ; (2) that she should pay an immense sum of money for the willful 
destruction and misery caused by her armies in France and Belgium ; (3) that she should 
give up the Kaiser to be tried by a court of justice ; (4) that she should speedily reduce the 
strength of her army and navy so that they would no longer be dangerous to the peace and 
prosperity of Europe or of the world. After many protests, the delegates sent by Germany 
signed the treaty at Versailles, France, on June 28, 1919. 

2 It has been suggested that the nation should erect this arch on the Parkway in Wash- 
ington, which extends from the steps of the Capitol, through the public grounds, to the 
Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. 

3 In 1910 the total population was given by the Census Department at " about 101,100,000." 

4 China, with its dependencies, is not excepted, since China proper has but 1,532,420 square 
miles, and it is doubtful how far the dependencies, embracing about 2,744,750 square miles, 
are actually subject to the control of the central Chinese government. 




Arch of the Republic' 



U)i>o-] GENERAL SUMMARY 421 

the largest portion of the earth's surface ^ under the control of any 
one government on any one of the grand divisions of the globe. 

Here every advantage is open. Education is absolutely free. 
Millions of acres of Western lands still invite industrious settlers. 
Here, and here only, among the leading civilized nations of the 
world, no immense standing army eats up a big slice of the daily 
earnings of the people.^ Here every lav;^ springs, or may spring, 
directly from the will of the majority. 

Here men coming from all parts of the world have made their 
home. Here they have learned to dwell together, work together, 
and stand together, in peace and in war, loyal to the flag and to 
the government which they have created and which they uphold 
by their own free will. 

These facts prove the truth of the motto chosen for this book. 
They show that America means Opportunity. In closing this brief 
history can we do better than ask, each one of himself. What use 
do I intend to make of this opportunity "^ The whole future of the 
Republic, for good or ill, for growth or decay, for glory or shame, 
depends on the way in which we individually answer this question. 

1 The census report of 1910 estimates the area of the United States, including Alaska, 
at 3,616,484 square miles, or, including our islands, at 3,743,448 square miles. 

Canada has a total area of 3,729,665 square miles, or 113,181 more than the American 
Republic, in its Continental area; but the great inland sea of Hudson Bay covers 500,000 
square miles of this territory, to which about 90,000 more square miles must be added for 
lakes or parts of lakes. This makes the actual land ana of Canada far less than that of the 
United States. 

'■^ In the spring of 19 14 the "standing army" of the United States — that is, the perma- 
nent army in time of peace — was 89,000. Leading European countries then had the following 
standing armies : Great Britain, about 25 5,000 (or, including troops in India,43o,ooo) ; France, 
720,000; Germany, 870,000; Russia, 1,290,000. On June 3, 1916, the National Defense Act 
authorized the gradual increase of our standing army to 208,000. In 1920 it was proposed 
that it should be fixed at 300,000, for a population estimated at over 107,000,000. 



APPENDIX 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

In Congress, July 4, 1776 

A DECLARATION BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED 
STATES OF AMERICA, IN CONGRESS 1 ASSEMBLED 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people 
to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to 
assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which 
the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the 
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel 
them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident : That all men are created equal ; that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among 
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, 
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the con- 
sent of the governed ; that, whenever any form of government becomes destruc- 
tive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to 
institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organiz- 
ing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety 

1 The First Continental or General Congress met in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, 
September 5, 1774. It consisted of forty-four delegates, representing eleven of the thirteen 
colonies. Later, eleven more delegates took their seats, and all of the colonies were repre- 
sented except Georgia, which promised to concur with " her sister colonies " in their effort 
to maintain their rights as English subjects. Peyton Randolph of Virginia was elected 
President of the Congress. Among the distinguished men who had assembled there, were 
Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, John Dickinson, William Livingston, John 
Jay, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Roger Sherman, and the Rutledges of South Carolina. 

On the 14th of October the Congress adopted a Declaration of Colonial Rights. On the 
26th a Petition to the King, asking the redress of their wrongs, was drawn up. 

The Second Continental Congress (at which Georgia was represented) met in Phila- 
delphia, in the State House (Independence Hall), May 10, 1775. A second Petition to the 
King was adopted, and Washington was appointed commander in chief of the Continental 
army, though Congress still denied any intention of separating from Great Britain, and 
earnestly expressed a desire for the peaceful settlement of all difficulties. 

The King's Proclamation, declaring the colonies in rebellion, and calling for volunteers 
to force them to submit to taxation without representation, and other unjust measures, finally 
convinced the delegates to Congress of the impossibility of our continuing our allegiance to 
the English crown. 

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moved "That these United Colonies 
are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States ; that they are absolved from all 

i 



ii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established 
should not be changed for light and transient causes ; and accordingly all experi- 
ence hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are suffer- 
able, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same 
object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, 
it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for 
their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; 
and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems 
of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of 
repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment 
of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to 
a candid world. 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the 
public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing impor- 
tance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained ; and, 
when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of 
people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the 
legislature, — a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places imusual, uncomfortable, and 
distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatigu- 
ing them into compliance with his measure. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly 
firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. 

allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state 
of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." This motion was adopted on July 2. 
John Adams of Massachusetts seconded the motion. 

A little later a committee of five — Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massa- 
chusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert 
R. Livingston of New York — was appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence. 
" From the fulness of his own mind, without consulting one single book, yet having in 
memory the example of the Swiss and the manifesto of the United Provinces of The Nether- 
lands," Jefferson drew up the paper, though some alterations were made in it by the 
committee and by Congress, 

It was adopted on the evening of July 4, 1776, and signed by John Hancock, President 
of Congress, and Charles Thomson, Secretary. On August 2, 1776, it was signed by the 
members, representing all the thirteen states. 

See Bancroft's " United States" (author's last revised edition, 1884), IV, ch. 26-28, and 
V, ch. I, For a printed copy of Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration with the changes 
made in it by the committee and by Congress see the " Madison Papers," I, pp. 19-27, or 
the " Old South Leaflets," General Series, No. 3. An exact copy of the beginning of Jeffer- 
son's original manuscript draft, with his corrections, is given in Winsor's " Narrative and 
Critical History of America," VI, p. 260; see too, in this connection, John Adams' account 
of Jefferson's "Drafting the Declaration of Independence" in Adams' Works (1850), II, 
pp. 513-514, or in Hart's "Source Book of American History," pp. 147-149. A facsimile 
or exact copy of the Declaration, in manuscript, as engrossed and signed, will be found in 
Force's "American Archives," Series V, I, p. 1597. The original manuscript itself is pre- 
served in the Patent Office at Washington. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE iii 

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others 
to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have 
returned to the people at large for their exercise ; the state remaining, in the 
mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convul- 
sions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states ; for that pur- 
pose obstructing the laws for the naturalization of -foreigners, refusing to pass 
others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new 
appropriations of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws" 
for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, 
and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers 
to harass our people and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent 
of our legislatures. 

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the 
civil power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our 
constitutions and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of 
pretended legislation : 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us ; 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which 
they should commit on the inhabitants of these states ; 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world ; 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent ; i 

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury ; 

For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses ; 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, 
establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries,^ so as 
to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same abso- 
lute rule into these colonies ; 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, 
fundamentally, the forms of our governments ; 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with 
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and 
waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed 
the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries ^ to complete 
the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of 

1 This count in Jefferson's indictment of the " King of Great Britain " is generally con- 
sidered to have been the chief cause of the American Revolution. 

2 This refers to Canada and the Quebec Act (see § i6o, note i). 
8 This refers to the Hessians (see § i66). 



iv LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally 
unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to 
bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and 
brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring 
on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule 
of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most 
humble terms ; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. 
A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant 
is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in our attentions to our British brethren. We have 
warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an 
unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances 
of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice 
and magnanimity ; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kin- 
dred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connec- 
tions and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and 
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces 
our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, 
in peace friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General 
Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the recti- 
tude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people 
of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united colonies are, 
and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are absolved from 
all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them 
and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as 
free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, 
contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which 
independent states may of right do. And, for the support of this declaration, with 
a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each 
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 

The foregoing Declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed and signed 
by the following members : 

John Hancock 

NEW HAMPSHIRE RHODE ISLAND NEW YORK 

JosiAH Bartlett Stephen Hopkins William Floyd 

William Whipple William Ellery Philip Livingston 

Matthew Thornton Francis Lewis 

MASSACHUSETTS BAY CONNECTICUT Lewis Morris 

Samuel Adams Roger Sherman t^^vvj tfrsfv 

John Adams Samuel Huntington 

Robert Treat Painb William Williams Richard Stockton 

Elbridge Gerry Oliver Wolcott John Witherspoon 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 



NEW JERSEY 
(Continue it) 

Francis Hopkinson 
John Hart 
Abraham Clark 



PENNSYLVANIA 

Robert Morris 
Benjamin Rush 
Benjamin Franklin 
John Morton 
George Clymer 
James Smith 
George Taylor 
James Wilson 
George Ross 



DELAWARE 

C^SAR Rodney 
George Read 
Thomas M'Kean 

MARYLAND 

Samuel Chase 
William Paca 
Thomas Stone 
Charles Carroll, of Car- 
rollton 

VIRGINIA 

George Wythe 
Richard Henry Lee 
Thomas Jefferson 
Benjamin Harrison 
Thomas Nelson, Jr. 



Francis Lightfoot Lee 
Carter Braxton 

NORTH CAROLINA 

William Hooper 
Joseph Hewes 
John Penn 

SOUTH CAROLINA 

Edward Rutledge 
Thomas Heyward, Jr. 
Thomas Lynch, Jr. 
Arthur Middleton 

GEORGIA 
Button Gwinnett 
Lyman Hall 
George Walton 



Resolved^ That copies of the Declaration be sent to the several assemblies, con- 
ventions, and committees, or councils of safety, and to the several commanding 
officers of the continental troops; that it be proclaimed in each of the United 
States, at the head of the army. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES^ 

(This copy of the Constitution conforms in wording and punctuation to the copy pub- 
lished by the Department of State at Washington in 1902 ; but in order to facilitate reference 
to its contents, side headings, in full-face type, have been prefixed to the paragraphs. 

All paragraphs, or parts of paragraphs, which are inclosed in brackets (see, for example, 
the third paragraph of Article I, Section 2) were either temporary provisions or they have 
been modified or superseded. 

Footnotes have been appended on all points which seemed to require them.) 

Preamble 

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, 
establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, 
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States 
of America. 

1 Before the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies were 
subject to the King of Great Britain. From July 4, 1776, the United States of America 
were governed by a Continental or General Congress until March i, 1781, when the States 
adopted a constitution, called the " Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between 
the States " (see the Articles in Macdonald's " Documentary Source Book of American 
History," or in Macy's "Our Government," or Boynton's "Civics"; also in Hart and 
Channing's "American History Leaflets," No. 20, or the "Old South Leaflets," General 
Series, No. 2). The Confederacy had no President, no supreme court, and consisted of a 
single house of Congress, made up of delegates elected by the legislatures of the States, 
Under this constitution Congress continued to govern — in so far as a body with no practical 
authority can be said to govern — until March 4, 1789; but on May 14, 1787, a convention 
of delegates from all the States, except Rhode Island, met in Independence Hall, Phila- 
delphia, " to form a more perfect union " (see the opening words of the Constitution above). 
The whole number of delegates that eventually attended was fifty-five, but only thirty-nine 
signed the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation had been made by the States 
only ; but as the opening words of the new compact declare " We, the people^'' made the 
Constitution. 

George Washington presided over the convention, and Benjamin Franklin, Robert 
Morris, James Madison, Rufus King, Roger Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, John Dickinson, 
Charles C. Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, J. Rutledge, and Gouvemeur Morris were among 
its distinguished members, 

Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin, and Gouvemeur Morris took the leading part 
in the great work of drafting the new Constitution, and after its adoption by the convention 
Madison and Hamilton used their influence, with great effect, to urge the ratification by the 
States, especially by New York (see their papers in the Federalist) , 

The convention sat with closed doors and maintained the utmost secrecy. After a 
stormy session of nearly four months, during which the convention several times threatened 
to break up in hopeless dispute, the Constitution was at last adopted (for the compromises 
on which it rested, see p. 173, note i). Madison seems to have been the delegate who 
did more than any one else in drafting the plan of the instrument. On that account he is 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES vii 

ARTICLE I. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT 

Section i. Congress 

Legislative Powers. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a 
Congress i of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of 
Representatives. 

Section 2. House of Representatives 

Election of Members. The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the 
electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most 
numerous branch of the state legislature. 

Qualifications. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained 
to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he 
shall be chosen. 

sometimes called the " Father of the Constitution." On the other hand, we appear to be 
indebted mainly to Gouverneur Morris for the clearness and precision of the style of 
the document. 

While the members of the convention were signing the Constitution the venerable Dr. 
Franklin, then aged eighty-one, rose and sa*id : " I have often, in the course of the session, 
and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at the sun [painted on the 
wall back of the president's chair], without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting ; 
but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, and not a setting sun." 

The Constitution was then submitted to the Congress of the Confederacy. That body, 
after discussing it, sent it to the State legislatures ; they, in turn, submitted it, for final rati- 
fication, to the conventions chosen by the people of the several States (see Article VII of 
the Constitution). In 1788 eleven had ratified it (Rhode Island and North Carolina declining- 
then, though they gave their assent before the close of 1790), and on March 4, 1789, the new 
Constitution went into operation, although, owing to delays, Washington was not inaugurated 
as the first President until April 30 of that year. 

For a detailed account of the action of the Constitutional Convention see Elliot's 
" Debates in the Convention," etc., 5 vols. ; Schouler's " United States," I, ch. i, or McMaster's 
" History of the People of the United States," I, pp. 389-399, 416-423, and 436-553. A good 
brief account of it is given in Boynton's " Civics." 

A facsimile, or exact copy, of the original manuscript of the Constitution will be found in 
Carson's " Hundredth Anniversary of the Constitution," I, p. 238. 

The manuscript itself and the Amendments are preserved in the State Department at 
Washington. 

Since the Constitution went into operation in 1789, it has been modified in several ways, 
namely: (i) by amendment (see the Seventeen Amendments which follow it); (2) by deci- 
sions and interpretations of the Supreme Court of the United States ; (3) by political usage, 
especially respecting either the broad or the strict construction of the provisions of the 
instrument. See on these points pp. 237-238, with references, of the " Student's American 
History" in this series. 

In this connection the pupil will find an interesting chapter in Boynton's "Civics" on 
the " Unwritten Constitution," and one in Macy's " Our Government " on the " Silences 
of the Constitution." 

1 Congress assembles on the first Monday in December; the first, or "long session," 
usually closes some time in the following summer ; the second, or " short session," closes, by 
law, at noon on March 4, Each Congress exists two years 



viii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

Apportionment. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among 
the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their 
respective numbers [which shall be determined by adding to the whole number 
of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and exclud- 
ing Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons] .1 The actual enumeration 
shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the 
United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as 
they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one 
for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one representative ; 
[and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be 
entitled to choose three ; Massachusetts, eight ; Rhode Island and Providence 
Plantations, one ; Connecticut, five ; New York, six ; New Jersey, four ; Pennsyl- 
vania, eight ; Delaware, one ; Maryland, six ; Virginia, ten ; North Carolina, five ; 
South Carolina, five; and Georgia, three] .^ 

Vacancies. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the 
executive authority 3 thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. 

Officers ; Impeachment. The House of Representatives shall choose their 
Speaker and other officers ; * and shall have the sole power of impeachment.^ 

1 "Three fifths of all other persons." This clause referred to slaves (see § 196, note 1, 
paragraph 3). The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, and the whole of the clause con- 
tained in brackets was superseded by the Fourteenth Amendment. 

2 The apportionment of 19 13 (see Table of Representation in the Appendix) was one 
representative for every 212,407 persons. The clause in brackets beginning, " and until such 
enumeration " was a temporary provision. 

3 " Executive authority," meaning here the governor of the State. 

4 " Speaker and other officers." The Speaker is one of the representatives ; the " other 
officers," namely the clerk, sergeant-at-arms, postmaster, doorkeeper, etc., are not repre- 
sentatives. The Speaker is almost always elected by the political party which has a majority 
in the House, and it is generally understood that he will cast his influence for that party. 

Formerly he sometimes availed himself of his right, as a member of the House, to leave 
his seat for a short time in order to take an active part in the debate of some question of 
unusual interest. This right he now very seldom exercises. 

But he is none the less " the most important figure in Congress," and stands " next in 
dignity and power to the President." 

In certain directions he can control legislation, especially by preventing it. This he 
does in four ways: (i) as a rule, no member of the House can introduce a bill or speak 
on any question until the Speaker chooses to recognize him ; (2) the Speaker can control 
legislation by his power of appointment of all committees to which bills or drafts of proposed 
laws must be referred (but in 1909 Congress restricted this power) ; (3) he can prevent the 
discussion of any proposition through his power to state questions and decide points of order ; 
(4) he is chairman of a committee which decides what order of business the House shall 
follow, and hence what measures shall be brought to the attention of the House. 

These four acknowledged powers of the Speaker make him practically the real head ox 
the body which enacts the laws of the nation. The Speaker receives ^12,000 a year. 

For an excellent abstract of the Speaker's functions see Boynton's " Civics," pp. 171-173. 
Consult also Hart's " Speaker as Premier," in his " Essays on American Government," and 
Bryce's "American Commonwealth," I, pp. 134-137 and 391. 

5 " Impeachment." The power to charge the President or any of the leading officers of 
the government with having violated the Constitution or the laws, and to bring them to trial 
before the Senate, as in the case of President Johnson (§ 366). 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES ix 



Section 3. Senate 

Number of Senators ; Election. The Senate of the United States shall be com- 
posed of two senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six 
years ; and each senator shall have one vote. 

Classification. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of 
the first election they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. 
The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the 
second year ; of the second class, at the expiration of the fourth year ; of the 
third class, at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen 
every second year ; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during 
the recess of the Legislature of any State, the executive 1 thereof may make tem- 
porary appointments until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then 
fill such vacancies. 

Qualifications. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to 
the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and 
who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall 
be chosen. 

President of Senate. The Vice President of the United States shall be presi- 
dent of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 

Officers. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president 
pro tempore,'^ in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the 
office of President of the United States. 

Trials of Impeachment. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all im- 
peachments 3 : When sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside ; 
and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the 
members present. 

Judgment in Case of Conviction. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not 
extend further than to removal from office and disqualification to hold and en- 
joy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States ; but the party 
convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, 
and punishment, according to law. 

Section 4. Both Houses 

Manner of electing Members. The times, places, and manner of holding elections 
for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legisla- 
ture thereof; but the Congress may at any time, by law, make or alter such 
regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators.* 

Meetings of Congress. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every 
year, and such meetings shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they 
shall by law appoint a different day. 

1 " Executive " (see note 3, p. viii). 2 "/>r<? tempore P For the time being. 

3 " Impeachments " (see note 5, p. viii). 

4 This is to prevent Congress from fixing the places of meeting of the State 
legislatures. 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Section 5. The Houses Separately 

Organization. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and 
qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a 
quorum ^ to do business ; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and 
may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, 
and under such penalties, as each house may provide. 

Rules. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its mem- 
bers for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a 
member. 

Journal. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to 
time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require 
secrecy, and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on any question 
shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.^ 

Adjournment. Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without 
the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place 
than that in which the two houses shall be sitting. 

Section 6. Privileges and Disabilities of Members 

Pay and Privileges of Members. The senators and representatives shall receive a 
compensation ^ for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treas- 
ury of the United States. They shall, in all cases except treason, felony, and breach 
of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of 
their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same ; and for any 
speech or debate in either house they shall not be questioned in any other place. 

Prohibitions on Members. No senator or representative shall, during the time 
for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of 
the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof 
shall have been increased, during such time ; and no person holding any office 
under the United States shall be a member of either house during his continu- 
ance in office. 

Section 7. Method of passing Laws 

Revenue Bills. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of 
Representatives;* but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as 
on other bills. 

How Bills become Laws ; Veto Power of the President. Every bill which shall 
have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it become 

^ " Quorum." A number competent to transact business. 

2 Namely, the votes by yeas and nays ; the entering of such votes on the journal opposite 
the names of members fixes the responsibility of each for his vote. Notice that when Con- 
gress passes a bill over the President's veto the votes are always determined by yeas and 
nays, and the names of the members voting are recorded in the journal (see Section 7, 
Paragraph 2, on the veto power of the President), 

3 " Compensation." ^7500 a year and twenty cents for every mile of travel from and to their 
homes each annual session. There is also an allowance of ^125 for stationery and newspapers. 

4 This power was conferred on the House because its members are directly elected by 
the people, from whom, in most cases, the revenue is derived. An immense majority of all 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES xi 

a law, be presented to the President of the United States ; if he approve, he shall 
sign it, but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that house in which it 
shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and 
proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two thirds of that house 
shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the 
other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two 
thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both 
houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting 
for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. i 
If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays ex- 
cepted) after it shall have been. presented to him, the same, shall be a law, in like 
manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent 
its return, in which case it shall not be a law. 

Resolutions, etc. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence 
of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a 
question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United 
States ; and before the same shall take effect, shall' be approved by him, or, 
being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed 
in the case of a bill. 

Section 8. Powers granted to Congress 

Enumerated Powers of Congress. The Congress shall have power : 

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and 
provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States ; but 
all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States ; 

To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and 
with the Indian tribes ; 

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject 
of bankruptcies throughout the United States ; 

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the 
standard of weights and measures ; 

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current 
coin of the United States ; 

To establish post .ofifices and post roads ; 

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing, for limited 
times, to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings 
and discoveries ; 

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; 

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and 
offenses against the law of nations ; 

bills presented in the House are " strangled " in the committees to which they are referred. 
In one Congress nearly 13,000 bills and joint resolutions were introduced; of these 9632 
were never heard of again, and only 1385 became laws. See Hart's " Essays on American 
Government," p. 9. ' 

1 See note 2, p. x, on votes by yeas and nays. 



xii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal,^ and make rules concern- 
ing captures on land and water ; 

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall 
be for a longer term than two years ; 

To provide and maintain a navy ; 

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces ; 

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, sup- 
press insurrections, and repel invasions; 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing 
such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserv- 
ing to the States respectively the appointment of the officers, and the authority of 
training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress ; 

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district 
(not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States, and the 
acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United State&,2 
and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the 
Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, 
magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings ; and 

Implied Powers of Congress. To make all laws which shall be necessary and 
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers 
vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any 
department or officer thereof.^ 

Section 9. Powers forbidden to the United States 

Absolute Prohibitions on Congress. [The migration or importation of such per- 
sons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be 
prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and 
eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten 
dollars for each person.]* 

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus ^ shall not be suspended, unless when 
in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. 

No bill of attainder or ex-post-facto law^ shall be passed. 

1 Letters granted by the government to private citizens in time of war authorizing them 
to capture the enemy's vessels, 

2 Namely, the District of Columbia. 

8 This is the so-called " Elastic Clause " of the Constitution, because it confers upon 
Congress the right to do whatever may be necessary to carry out the powers vested by 
the Constitution in the national government. Compare this provision with Article VI, 
Paragraph 2, on the Supremacy of the Constitution, and with the Tenth Amendment on 
State Rights. 

4 " Person," meaning slave. This temporary provision refers to the importation of slaves, 
which was prohibited by Congress in 1808. 

5 " Habeas corpus." This writ requires an accused person, who is in prison, to be brought 
into court in order that it may be determined whether he can be legally held or not, 

6 " Bill of attainder or ex-post-facto law." An " attainder " was a special act in English 
law, by which a person could be condemned to death or banished without having the power 
of defending himself in a court of justice. An " ex-post-facto law " is a law imposing punish- 
ment for acts committed before the law was passed. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES xiii 

No capitation ^ or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the 
census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken. 

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. 

No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to 
the ports of one State over those of another ; nor shall vessels bound to, or from, 
one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another. 

No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropria- 
tions made by law ; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and 
expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time. 

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States : and no person 
holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the 
Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, 
from any king, prince, or foreign state. 

Section io. Powers forbidden to the States 

Absolute Prohibitions on the States. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, 
or confederation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; ^ coin money ; emit bills 
of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts ; 
pass any bill of attainder, ex-post-facto law,^ or law impairing the obligation of 
contracts, or grant any title of nobility. 

Conditional Prohibitions on the States. No State "shall, without the consent of 
the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may 
be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws ; and the net produce of 
all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for the 
use of the treasury of the United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to 
the revision and control of the Congress. 

No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep 
troops, or ships of war, in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact 
with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually 
invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. 

ARTICLE II. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 

Section i. President and Vice President 

Term. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States 
of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years,* and, together 
with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows : 

Electors. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof 
may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and 

1 " Capitation " tax. One levied on each head or person, — a poll tax. 

2 " Letters of marque and reprisal" (see note i, p. xii), 

3 " Attainder or ex-post-facto law" (see note 6, p. xii). 

4 The Congress of the Confederacy in 1 788 fixed the 4th of March, 1 789, for the inauguration 
of the President, and three years later a law was passed decreeing that the day selected should 
continue to stand. It has been said that Franklin first suggested the 4th of March, because 
it was found that for the two ensuing centuries that day would fall on Sunday less often than 
any other. See the " New Encyclopaedia Americana," Vol. VII, article, " Inauguration Day." 



xiv LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

representatives to which the State may be entitled in Congress : i but no senator 
or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United 
States, shall be appointed an elector. 

Proceedings of Electors and of Congress. [The electors shall meet in their respec- 
tive States, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not 
be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a list 
of all the persons vot^d for, and of the number of votes for each ; which list they 
shall sign and certify and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the 
United States, directed to the president of the Senate. The president of the 
Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open 
all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the 
greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of 
the whole number of electors appointed ; and if there be more than one who 
have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of 
Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for President ; 
and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said 
house shall, in like manner, choose the President. But in choosing the President, 
the votes shall be taken by* States, the representation from each State having 
one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from 
two thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a 
choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the 
greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But if there 
should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from 
them by ballot the Vice President.] ^ 

Time of choosing Electors. The Congress may determine the time of choosing 
the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes ; ^ which day shall be 
the same throughout the United States. 

Qualifications of President. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen 
of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be 
eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that 
office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been four- 
teen years a resident within the United States. 

Vacancy. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his 
death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said 
office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may 
by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of 
the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as Presi- 
dent ; * and such officer shall act accordingly until the disability be removed, 
or a President shall be elected. 

1 See Table of Representation in Appendix. 

2 The whole of this paragraph in brackets has been superseded by the Twelfth 
Amendment. 

3 The electors are chosen on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, pre- 
ceding the expiration of a Presidential term. They vote (by act of Congress of February 3, 
1S87) on the second Monday in January, following, for President and Vice President. The 
votes are counted and declared in Congress on the second Wednesday of the following 
February. 

4 See the Presidential Succession Act of i8i)6 (§ 392). 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES xv 

Salary. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a com- 
pensation ^ which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for 
which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any 
other emolument from the United States, or any of them. 

Oath of Office. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the 
following oath or affirmation : " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faith- 
fully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of 
my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." 

Section 2. Powders of the President 

Military Powers ; Reprieves and Pardons. The President shall be commander 
in chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several 
States, when called into the actual service of the United States ; he may require 
the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive depart- 
ments,2 upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices ; and he 
shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United 
States, except in cases of impeachment.^ 

Treaties ; Appointments. He shall have power, by and with the advice and con- 
sent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present 
concur ; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of 
the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appoint- 
ments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by 
law : but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, 
as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads 
of departments. 

Fill Vacancies. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall ex- 
pire at the end of their next session. 

Section 3. Duties of the President 

The President's Message ; he may convene Congress ; he shall receive Public Min- 
isters, execute the Laws, and commission Officers. He shall from time to time 
give to the Congress information of the state of the Union,* and recommend to 
their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient ; 
he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and 
in case of disagreement between them with respect to the time of adjournment, he 
may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambas- 
sadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully 
executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States. 

1 The President receives $75,000 a year; the Vice President, $12,000. Previous to 1873 the 
President received $25,000 a year; from 1873 to March 4, 1909, he received $50,000 a year. 

^ The executive departments are the Departments of State, the Treasury, etc. (see § 200 
and § 392, note i) ; the heads of these departments are members of the President's cabinet 
or private council. 3 " Impeachment" (see note 5, p. viii). 

4 Washington and John Adams read their messages to Congress. Jefferson sent his 
written message to that body, and his example has ever since been followed. 



xvi LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Section 4. Impeachment 

Removal of Officers. The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the 
United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment 1 for, and conviction 
of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 



ARTICLE III. JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT 

Section i. United States Courts 

Courts established ; Judges. The judicial power of the United States shall be 
vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may 
from time to time ordain and establish.^ The judges, both of the Supreme and 
inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated 
times, receive for their services a compensation ^ which shall not be diminished 
during their continuance in office. 

Section 2. Jurisdiction of United States Courts 

Federal Courts in General. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law 
and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and 
treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority ; — to all cases affect- 
ing ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls ; — to all cases of admiralty 
and maritime jurisdiction ; — to controversies to which the United States shall 
be a party ; — to controversies between two or more States ; — between a State 
and citizens of another State ; * — between citizens of different States ; — be- 
tween citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different States, 
and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or 
subjects. 

Supreme Court. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and 
consuls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have 
original jurisdiction.^ In all other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court 
shall have appellate jurisdiction,^ both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and 
under such regulations as the Congress shall make. 

Trials. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by 
jury ; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have 
been committed ; but when not committed within any State, the trial shall be at 
such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed. 

1 " Impeachment" (see note 5, p. viii). 

2 Congress established nine Circuit Courts, nine Circuit Courts of Appeal, a Court of 
Claims, and one or more District Courts in each of the States, besides one in Alaska, Hawaii, 
and Porto Rico. It has also established a Commerce Court and a Court of Customs Appeals. 

3 " Compensation." The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States receives 
a salary of $15,000, and the associate justices $14,500 each. 

^ But compare the Eleventh Amendment. 
6 " Original jurisdiction," namely exclusive jurisdiction, 

6 " Appellate jurisdiction," that is, cases may begin in the lower courts, and may be carried 
by appeal to the Supreme Court. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES xvii 

Section 3. Treason 

Treason defined. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying 
war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. 

Conviction of Persons accused of Treason. No person shall be convicted of treason 
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession 
in open court. 

Punishment. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of 
treason, but no attainder ^ of treason shall work corruption of blood,^ or forfeiture, 
except during the life of the person attainted.^ 



ARTICLE IV. RELATIONS OF THE STATES TO EACH OTHER 

Section i. Official Acts 

Rights of State and Records. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State 
to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the 
Congress may by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, 
and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 

Section 2. Privileges of Citizens 

Privileges of Citizens of States. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to 
all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States. 

Fugitives from Justice. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or 
other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on 
demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered 
up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime. 

Fugitive Slaves and Other Fugitives held to Labor. [No person held to service or 
labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in conse- 
quence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or 
labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service 
or labor may be due.] * 

Section 3. New States and Territories 

Admission of States. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this 
Union ; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any 
other State ; nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or 
parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned 
as well as of the Congress. 

1 " Attainder." Punishment. This seems to be the meaning of the word here. See 
Story's " Commentary on the Constitution," p. 466. 

2 " Corruption of blood." Under the old English law, since repealed, a person attainted 
or convicted of treason was disabled from holding, inheriting, or transmitting an estate. 

3 As a matter of fact, no person in the United States has ever been put to death for the 
crime of treason. 

4 This was the basis of the first Fugitive Slave Law in 1793, and also of the second and 
last in 1850. This clause has been superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment. 



xviii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

Territory and Property of United States. The Congress shall have power to 
dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or 
other property belonging to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution 
shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any 
particular State. 

Section 4. Protection of the States 

Republican Government guaranteed to every State. The United States shall guar- 
antee to every State in this Union a republican form of government, and shall pro- 
tect each of them against invasion, and on application of the Legislature, or of the 
Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence. 



ARTICLE V. AMENDMENTS 

Amendments, how proposed ; how ratified. The Congress, whenever two thirds 
of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitu- 
tion, or, on the application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, 
shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be 
valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the 
Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three 
fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by 
the Congress ; provided [that no amendment which may be made prior to the 
year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and 
fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article ; and] that no State, without 
its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.^ 



ARTICLE VI. GENERAL PROVISIONS 

Public Debt. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the 
adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under 
this Constitution, as under the Confederation.^ 

Supremacy of the Constitution ; Federal Laws; Treaties; State Judges. This 
Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance 
thereof ; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the 
United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; and the judges in every 
State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to 
the contrary notwithstanding.^ 

Official Oath; Religious Test. The senators and representatives before men- 
tioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and 

1 The words inclosed in brackets were a temporary provision. 

2 " The Confederation." The first Constitution of the United States, adopted in 178 1, and 
which was superseded by the present Constitution. There is a second provision respecting 
the public debt in the Fourteenth Amendment. 

3 In the words of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Constitution, while it 
stands, is " A law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the 
shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times and under all circumstances " (Judge 
Cooley's " Principles of Constitutional Law," p. 33). 



I 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 



XIX 



judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be 
bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test^ 
shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the 
United States. 

ARTICLE VII. RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION 

Ratification. The ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be sufficient 
for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same. 

Done in convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present, the 
seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the United 
States of America the twelfth. 

In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON 

President, and Deputy from Virginia 



NEW HAMPSHIRE 

John Langdon 
Nicholas Oilman 

MASSACHUSETTS 

Nathaniel Gorham 
RuFUS King 

CONNECTICUT 

William Samuel Johnson 
Roger Sherman 

NEW YORK 
Alexander Hamilton 

NEW JERSEY 

William Livingston 
David Brearley 
William Paterson 
Jonathan Dayton 



PENNSYLVANIA 

Benjamin Franklin 
Thomas Mifflin 
Robert Morris 
George Clymer 
Thomas Fitzsimons 
Jared Ingersoll 
James Wilson 
Gouverneur Morris 

DELAWARE 
George Read 
Gunning Bedford, Jr. 
John Dickinson 
Richard Bassett 
Jacob Broom 

MARYLAND 

James M'Henry 
Daniel [of St. Thomas] 

Jenifer 
Daniel Carroll 



VIRGINIA 

John Blair 
James Madison, Jr. 



NORTH CAROLINA 

William Blount 
Richard Dobbs Spaight 
Hugh Williamson 



SOUTH CAROLINA 

John Rutledge 
Charles C. Pinckney 
Charles Pinckney 
Pierce Butler 



GEORGIA 

William Few 
Abraham Baldwin 



Attest: WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary 



1 See too the First Amendment, for a second provision respecting religion. 



XX LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HiblUKV 



AMENDMENTS 

Religion, Speech, Press, Assemblage, Petition. Article I.i Congress shall make 
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exer- 
cise thereof ; ^ or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ; ^ or the right 
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress 
of grievances. 

Militia; Right to bear Arms. Article II. A well-regulated militia being neces- 
sary to the security of a free State the right of the people to keep and bear arms 
shall not be infringed. 

The Quartering of Soldiers. Article III. No soldier shall, in time of peace, 
be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner ; nor in time of war 
but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 

Unreasonable Searches. Article IV. The right of the people to be secure 
in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and 
seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable 
cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to 
be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.* 

Criminal Prosecutions ; Life, Liberty, and Property Safeguarded. Article V. 
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, 
unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the 
land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public 
danger ; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in 
jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness 
against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of 
law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. 

Rights of the Accused in Criminal Prosecutions. Article VI. In all criminal 
prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an 

1 These amendments were proposed by Congress and ratified by the Legislatures of the 
several States, pursuant to the fifth article of the Constitution. The first ten were offered in 
1789 and were adopted before the close of 1791. They were for the most part the work of 
Madison. They are frequently called the Bill of Rights, as their purpose is to guard more 
efficiently the rights of the people and of the States. 

Since the Constitution went into operation in 1789 between one and two thousand 
amendments to it have been proposed in Congress, but only the seventeen given here have 
been accepted and ratified. Of these, the first twelve were ratified before the close of 1804. 
The three relating to the negroes or freedmen, were ratified between 1865 and 1870. 

2 " Religion." These two provisions, though they limit the power of Congress, do not 
restrict State legislation. Judge Story, in his " Commentaries on the Constitution," says that 
the real object of this limitation was to "cut off the means of religious persecution (the vice 
and pest of former ages)." 

On the action of Congress respecting the free exercise of religion in the territories, see 
the " Student's American History," in this series, p. 552, note i. 

8 " Freedom of speech and of the press." On these points Judge Story (see note 2 above) 
quotes with approval the words of Chancellor Kent of New York, when he said, " Every 
citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible 
for the abuse of that right P 

4 This is a prohibition of the use of ''general warrants" such as the " Writs of Assist- 
ance " (§ 154). 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES xxi 

impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been com- 
mitted, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be 
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the 
witnesses against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his 
favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. 

Right of Trial by Jury in Suits at Common Law. Article VII. In suits at 
common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right 
of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise 
reexamined in any court of the United States than according to the rules of the 
common law. 

Excessive Bail and Cruel Punishments Forbidden. Article VIII. Excessive bail 
shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punish- 
ments inflicted. 

Reserved Rights and Powers. Article IX. The enumeration in the Constitu- 
tion of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained 
by the people. 

Powers reserved to the States or to the People. Article X. The powers not 
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the 
States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.^ 

Judicial Power of the United States ; how construed. Article XI. The judicial 
power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or 
equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of 
another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.^ 

Method of electing President and Vice President. Article XII. The electors 
shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice 
President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with 
themselves ; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, 
and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice President ; and they shall 
make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted 
for as Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall 
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United 
States, directed to the president of the Senate ; — the president of the Senate 
shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the 

1 This very important article secures to the States the full measure of their right to self- 
government in distinction from the rights guaranteed to the federal government. Judge 
Story remarks, in his " Commentaries on the Constitution," that the Constitution " Being an 
instrument of limited and enumerated powers, it follows irresistibly, that what is not con- 
ferred, is withheld, and belongs to the State authorities, if invested by their constitutions of 
government respectively in them ; and if not so invested, it is retained by the people, as a 
part of their residuary sovereignty." 

2 In 1793 suits were brought in the United States Supreme Court against the States of 
Georgia and of Massachusetts. These proceedings created great alarm among all the States. 
Georgia enacted a law punishing with death any United States marshal who should attempt 
to serve a process upon her. Massachusetts called for the passing of an eleventh amend- 
ment to the Constitution which should prohibit suits against a State by citizens of another 
State or by citizens or subjects of ajiy foreign state. The amendment was adopted in fjgi. 
Under its provisions several States repudiated the payment of debts which they considered 
essentially unjust and hence not binding upon them. 



xxii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

certificates, and the votes shall then be counted ; — the person having the greatest 
number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such* number be a 
majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if no person have such 
majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three 
on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall 
choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the 
votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one 
vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two 
thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. 
And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the 
right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next 
following, then the Vice President shall act as President, as in the case of the 
death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the 
greatest number of votes as Vice President, shall be the Vice President, if such 
number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if no 
person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate 
shall choose the Vice President ; a quorum i for the purpose shall consist of two 
thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall 
be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of 
President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States.^ 

Slavery prohibited. Article XIII. Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been 
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their 
jurisdiction.^ 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate 
legislation. 

Who are Citizens of the United States ; their Rights. Article XIV. Section i. 
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdic- 
tion thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. 
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or 
immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any State deprive any per- 
son of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person 
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.* 

1 " Quorum." See note i, p. x. 

2 According to the provisions of Article II, Section i (see matter inclosed in brackets), 
the electors voting for President and Vice President did not designate the candidates by 
name, but the person who received " the greatest number of votes, in excess of a majority, 
was to be President ; and the person receiving the next highest number, whether it was a 
majority or not, was to be Vice President. In the election of 1800 Jefferson, whom the 
electors desired for President, received the same number of votes as Burr, whom they had 
meant to elect Vice President." The House (as the Article required) decided the question by 
choosing Jefferson President. But as a majority of the House were FederaHsts, while the two 
candidates for office were Republicans, the struggle was so protracted and so violent that Judge 
Story says it " threatened a dissolution of the government." This very serious complication 
led to the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804, which has ever since been in force. 

8 This article, adopted in 1865, not only confirmed the Proclamation of Emancipation of 
^863 (§ 340), but extended the principle, therein embodied, to the whole United States. 

4 This article made the negroes or "freedmen" citizens; it was adopted in 1868. See 
Rhodes' " United States," V, p. 609 ; see also Guthrie's " The Fourteenth Amendment," p. 1 10. 



i 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES xxiii 

Apportionment of Representatives ; Denial of Right to vote to Adult Male Citizens 
reduces the Basis of Representation. Section 2. Representatives shall be appor- 
tioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting 
the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But 
when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and 
Vice President of the United States, representatives in Congress, the executive 
or judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied 
to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and 
citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in 
rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the 
proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number 
of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 1 

Disability of Certain Persons to hold Office, Section j. No person shall be a senator 
or representative in Congress, or elector of President or Vice President, or hold 
any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who 
having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the 
United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judi- 
cial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall 
have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or com- 
fort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each 
house, remove such disability .2 

Validity of the Public Debt of the United States ; Certain Debts and Claims Void. 
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by 
law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in 
suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the 
United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred 
in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the 
loss or emancipation of any slave ; but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall 
be held illegal and void. Section j. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by 
appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. 

Right of Citizens of the United States to Vote (Negroes made Voters). Article XV. 
Section i. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied 
or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or 
previous condition of servitude.^ Section 2. The Congress shall have power to 
enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 

Income Tax (1913). Article XVI. The Congress shall have power to lay and 
collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment 
among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. 

Election of Senators by the People (1913). Article XVIL The Senate of the 
United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State elected by 
the people thereof for six years, and each Senator shall have one vote. 

1 This sentence was superseded by the Fifteenth Amendment. 

2 Congress, in 1872 and 1898, did remove the disability. 

3 Adopted in 1870. The Fourteenth Amendment, though it made the negroes citizens of 
the United States, did not give them the right to vote. The Fifteenth Amendment declared 
that no citizen could be denied that right " on account of race, color, or previous condition 
of servitude." But it did not prohibit the States from disfranchising the negro for other 
reasons, such as want of education or want of property. 



xxiv LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

Prohibition of Intoxicating Liquors as Beverages (1919). Ariicle XVIII. Sec- 
Hon I. After one year froai the ratification ot thiis article the manufacture, sale, 
or transportation of intoxicating hquors within, the importation thereof into, or 
the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the 
jurisdiction thereof, for beverage purposes, is hereby prohibited. 

Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power 
to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 

Section j. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified 
as an amendment to the Constitution by the Legislatures of the several States as 
provided in the Constitution within seven years from the date of the submission 
hereof to the States by the Congress. 1 

1 On January 16, 1919, the necessary three fourths of the States had ratified the Eighteenth 
Amendment (see p. xviii, Article V, on Amendments), and on January 29, 1919, it was 
officially declared adopted as a part of the Federal Constitution. The law became effective 
on January 16, 1920. On the following day John F. Kramer, commissioner for enforcing 
obedience to the law, entered upon his duties, with a large number of subordinates to assist 
him. The cost of carrying on the work for the first year has been estimated at not less 
than ^5,000,000. 



TABLE Ol^ STATES AND TERRITORIES 



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A SHORT LIST OF BOOKS ON AMERICAN 

HISTORY 



Bibliography 

Channing and Hart's Guide to the Study of 
American History (14 92-1 865) 

Adams' Manual of Historical Literature 

References in Winsor's Narrative and Criti- 
cal History of America, 8 vols. 

Foster's References to United States His- 
tory 

Lamed's Literature of American History 

Historical Geography, Territorial Expan- 
sion, Physiography, and Maps 

Hart's Epoch Maps of the United States 

(no text) 
Scribner's Statistical Atlas of the United 

States (1880) 
MacCoun's Historical Geography of the 

United States (revised edition) 
Gannett's Boundaries of the States (no 

maps) 
Shaler's United States, 2 vols, 
Semple's American History and its Geo- 
graphic Conditions 
Hitchcock's Louisiana Purchase 
Austin's Steps in the Expansion of our 

Territory 
Hulbert's Historic Highways (Roads and 

Waterways), 16 vols. 

Woj'ks of Reference 

Macdonald's Select Charters of American 

History (1606-1775) 
Macdonald's Select Documents of United 

States History (i 776-1861) 
Macdonald's Select Statutes of United States 

History (1861-1898) 
Macdonald's Documentary Source Book of 

American History (1606-1898) i 
Lalor's Cyclopaedia of United States History, 

3 vols. 



Lamed's History for Ready Reference, 6 vols. 
Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States 

History, 10 vols. 
Mace's Method in History 
Richardson's Messages, etc., of the Presi- 
dents (1789-1901), 10 vols. 
Hart's Source Book of American History 
Hart's American History told by Contem- 
poraries, 4 vols. 
Stevenson's Poems of American History 
Lane and Hill's American History in Liter- 
ature 
Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia (1876-1902) 
Poole's Index to Reviews 
Index to Congressional Documents 
The American Historical Review 
The Magazine of American History 
The Magazine of Western History 
Harper's First Century of the Republic 
The North American Review for 1876 (First 

Century of the Republic) 
Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biog- 
raphy, 6 vols. 
The National Cyclopaedia of American Bi- 
ography, 12 vols. 
Sparks' American Biography, 25 vols. 
*Morse's American Statesmen, 25 vols. 
*Scudder's American Commonwealths, 13 

vols. 
*Howe's The Beacon Biographies of Emi- 
nent Americans, 15 vols. 
*Oberholtzer's American Crisis Biographies, 

25 vols. 
McMaster's With the Fathers 
Bishop's American Manufactures, 2 vols, 
Boone's Education in the United States 
Dexter's Education in the United States 
Richardson's American Literature, 2 vols. 
Wright's Industrial Evolution of the United 

States 
Coman's Industrial History of the United 
States 



1 This is a selection of Documents from Macdonald's first three volumes. 
* Books so marked are in progress. 

xxxi 



xxxii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Bryce's American Commonwealth, 2 vols. 

(revised edition) 
Niles' Register (1811-1849), 76 vols. 
*The Statesman's Vear-Book for 1909 

Constitutional and Political Histojy 
and Diplomacy 

Thorpe's Short Constitutional History of 

the United States 
Thorpe's Constitutional History of the 

American People, 2 vols. 
Von Hoist's Constitutional History of the 

United States (to 1861), 9 vols. 
Curtis' Constitutional History of the United 

States, 2 vols, 
Macy's Our Government 
Boynton's Civics 

Carson's Hundredth Anniversary of the Con- 
stitution, 2 vols. 
Bryce's American Commonwealth, 2 vols. 

(revised edition) 
Elliot's Debates in the Constitutional Con- 
vention, 3 vols. 
Foster's Commentaries on the Constitution, 

2 vols. 
Landon's Constitutional History 
Poore's State Charters and Constitutions, 

2 vols. 
Benton's Abridgment of Congressional 

Debates (1789-1850), 16 vols. 
Wheeler's History of Congress, 2 vols. 
Moore's History of Congress 
Hazard's State Papers (1492-1767), 2 vols. 
Force's American Archives (1774-1783), 

9 vols. 
The Federalist 
Williams' Statesman's Manual (i 789-1847), 

2 vols. 
Carson's History of the United States 

Supreme Court 
Boutwell's The Constitution at the End 

of the Century (U. S. Supreme Court 

decisions) 
*United States Statutes (and Treaties) at 

Large, 34 vols. 
Taussig's Tariff History 
Mason's History of the Veto Power 
*Mead's Old South Leaflets, 75 nos. 
*Hart and Channing's American History 

Leaflets, 24 nos. 
Cooper's American Politics 



Wilson's The State 

Scott's Constitutional Liberty 

Wilson's Rise and Fall of the Slave Power, 
3 vols. 

Smith's Political History of Slavery, 2 vols, 

Curtis' History of the Republican Party, 
2 vols. 

Smith's Liberty and Free-Soil Parties in the 
Northwest 

Macdonald's Charters of American History 
(1605-1775) 

Macdonald's Select Documents of United 
States History (1776-1861) 

Macdonald's Select Statutes of United States 
History (1861-1898) 

Macy's Political Parties (i8j6-i86i) 

McMaster's Acquisition of Rights 

Stanwood's The Presidency 

McKee's National Conventions and Plat- 
forms 

Johnston's American Politics 

Woodburn's Political Parties 

Merriam's American Political Theories 

Ford's Political History of the United States 

Gordy's Political History of the United 
States (1787- 1 828), 2 vols. 

McPherson's Political History of the Re- 
bellion 

McPherson's Political History of Recon- 
struction 

McPherson's Handbook of Politics (from 
1870), 13 double vols. 

The Collected Words of Franklin, Washing- 
ton, Jefferson, Hamilton, Jay, Rufus King, 
John Adams, Madison, Morris, Clay, 
Calhoun, Webster, Lincoln, Seward, and 
Sumner 

Memoirs of J. Q. Adams (1795-1848), 12 vols. 

I ngersoll's Recollections (1792-1 803) , 2 vols. 

Benton's Thirty Years in the Senate (1S20- 
1850), 2 vols. 

Wise's Seven Decades (1790-1862) 

Blaine's Twenty Years of Congress (1861- 
1881), 2 vols. 

Sargent's Public Men and Events (1817- 
1895), 2 vols. 

Julian's Political Recollections (1840-1872) 

McCulloch's Men and Measures of Half a 
Century (1833-1883) 

Cox's Three Decades (1855-1885) 

Chittenden's Personal Reminiscences (1840- 
1890) 



* Books so marked are in progress. 



A LIST OF BOOKS ON AMERICAN HISTORY xxxiii 



Sherman's Recollections (1855-1895), 2 vols. 

Thompson's Recollections of Sixteen Presi- 
dents (1789-1865), 2 vols. 

McClure's Recollections 

Hoar's Autobiography, 2 vols. 

Snow's American Diplomacy (i 783-1893) 

Schuyler's American Diplomacy 

Foster's Century of American Diplomacy 
(1776-1876) 

Hart's Foreign Policy of the United States 

Financial Nistoiy 

Dewey's Financial History of the United 

States 
White's Money and Banking 
Sumner's American Currency 
BoUes' Financial History of the United 

States, 2 vols. 

Histories of the Ihiited States in 
General 

Hart's History of the American Nation 

(1492-1907), 27 vols. 
*Chancellorand Hewes' United States (1607- 

1909), 10 vols. 
Garner and Lodge's United States (1492- 

1905), 4 vols. 
Sparks' United States (1492-1904), 2 vols. 
Elson's United States (1492-1905), 5 vols. 
*Avery's United States (1492- ), 16 vols. 
Andrews' United States (1492-1902), 5 vols. 
Wilson's History of the American People 

(1492-1900), 5 vols. 
Scribner's United States (Bryant and Gay, 

revised) (1492- 1896), 5 vols. 
Hart's Epochs of American History (1492- 

1889), 3 vols. 
Scribner's American History Series (1492- 

1889), 7 vols. 
Higginson's Larger History of the United 

States (1492-1837) 
Goldwin Smith's United States (1492-1871) 
Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of 

America (1000-1850), 8 vols. 
Schouler's United States (1783-1865), 6 vols. 
Bancroft's United States (1492-1789), 6 vols. 
H. H. Bancroft's Pacific States, 34 vols. 
Hildreth's United States (1492-1821). 6 vols. 
Johnston's United States (reprinted with 

additions from the Encyclopaedia Britan- 

nica) (1492- 1 889) 

* Books so marked are in progress. 



Tucker's United States (1607-1841), 3 vols. 

*McMastcr's United States (1784-1861), 6 
vols. 

Adams' United States (1801-1817), 9 vols. 

Rhodes' United States (1850-1877), 6 vols. 

Hart's American History told by Contem- 
poraries (1492-1900), 4 vols. 

*Channing's United States (1492- ), 8 vols. 

I. Period of Discovery (1492-1521) 

§ Major's Select Letters of Columbus 
§Hakluyt's Divers Voyages 
§ Hart's American History told by Contem- 
poraries, Vol. I 
Winsor's Columbus 
Markham's Columbus 
Harrisse's Discovery of America 
Fiske's Discovery of North America, 2 vols. 
Winsor's America, Vols. I-III 
Channing's United States, Vol. I 

n. Period of Exploration and 

Spanish Cqlonization of 

America (1509-1587) 

Irving's Companions of Columbus, 2 vols. 

H. H. Bancroft's Pacific States, 34 vols. 

§De Soto's Conquest of Florida (Hakluyt) 

*Channing's United States, Vol. I 

Parkman's France in the New W' orld 

Cooke's Virginia 

§Hakluyt's Voyages (Goldsmid), Vol. XIII, 
pp. 169-276 (reasons for colonization) 

§ Hart's American History told by Contem- 
poraries, Vol. I 

Winsor's America, Vols. I I-III 

Edward's Sir Walter Raleigh 

Ellis' The Red Man and the White 

Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, 6 vols. 

Morgan's League of the Iroquois 

Colden's Five Nations 

Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac (ch. 1) 

in. Period of Permanent Eng- 
lish and French Settlements 
(1607-1763) 

§ Hart's American History told by Contem- 
poraries, Vols. l-II 
Scribner's United States, 5 vols. 
Winsor's America, 8 vols. 
Doyle's The English in America, 3 vols. 
Channing's United States, Vols. I-II 

§ Contemporaneous or Early History. 



xxxiv LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Osgood's American Colonies, 2 vols. 

Parkman's Pioneers of France in the New 
World 

Eggleston's The Beginners of a Nation 

Eggleston's The Transit of Civilization 

Eggleston's Articles in the Century, Vols. 
III-VIII 

Earle's Home Life in Colonial Days 

Thwaite's Colonies 

Fisher's Colonial Period 

Lodge's English Colonies 

Parkman's Frontenac 

Parkman's Old Regime in Canada 

Parkman's Jesuits in North America 

Parkman's Half Century of Conflict, 2 vols. 

Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, 2 vols. 

Wood's Fight for Canada 

Winsor's Mississippi Basin 

•sForce's North American Colonies, 4 vols. 

Seeley's Expansion of England 

Lecky's England, iSth Century, 8 vols. 

Chalmer's Annals of the Colonies 

Chalmer's Revolt of the Colonies, 2 vols. 

Goldwin Smith's American Colonies 

§Captain John Smith's Works (Arber's 
edition) 

§ Brown's Genesis of the United States 
(1607-1616), 2 vols. 

§ Beverly's Virginia (i 584-1 720) 

§Stith's Virginia (1607-1747) 

§Jefferson's Notes on Virginia 

§Neill's Virginia Company 

§Neill's Virginia Vetusta 

§Neiirs Virginia Carolorum 

§Hening's Statutes of Virginia (1619-1792), 
13 vols. 

Bruce's Economic H istory of Virginia, 2 vols. 

Cooke's Virginia 

*The Virginia Magazine of History, etc. 

'^Brodhead's New York (1664-1691), 2 vols. 

Roberts' New York, 2 vols. 

Wilson's City of New York, 4 vols. 

Lamb's City of New York, 2 vols. 

Palfrey's New England, 5 vols. 

§Winthrop's New England, 2 vols. 

Fiske's Beginnings of New England 

Weeden's Economic History of New Eng- 
land, 2 vols. 

§ Bradford's History of Plymouth 

§ Arber's Story of the Pilgrims 

§Young's Chronicle of the Pilgrims 

Goodwin's Pilgrim Republic 



Barry's Massachusetts, 3 vols, 

§Lowell Lectures (1869) on Early Massa- 
chusetts 

§Young's Chronicles of Massachusetts Bay 

Ellis' Puritan Age in Massachusetts 

§Hutchinson's Massachusetts, 3 vols. 

Oliver's Puritan Commonwealth 

Thornton's Reply to Oliver 

Adams' Emancipation of Massachusetts 

Adams' Three Episodes in the History of 
Massachusetts, 2 vols. 

§ Mather's Magnalia 

§Sewall's Diary (1674-1729), 3 vols. 

Winsor's Memorial History of Boston, 4 vols. 

Arnold's Rhode Island, 2 vols. 

Greene's Rhode Island 

Trumbull's Connecticut, 2 vols. 

Johnston's Connecticut 

Sanborn's Nev/ Hampshire 

Belknap's New Hampshire, 2 vols. 

Browne's Maryland 

Scharf's Maryland, 3 vols. 

§Proud's Pennsylvania (1681- 1742), 2 vols. 

Fisher's Making of Pennsylvania 

Fisher's Colony and Commonwealth of Penn- 
sylvania 

Scharf and Westcott's Philadelphia 

*The Pennsylvania Magazine 

Scharf's Delaware, 2 vols. 

Roper's North Carolina 

Williamson's North Carolina 

Moore's North Carolina, 2 vols. 

McCrady's South Carolina, 2 vols. 

Simm's South Carolina 

Raum's New Jersey, 2 vols. 

Jones' Georgia, 2 vols. 

Baird's Huguenot Emigration to America 

Roosevelt's Winning of the West, 3 vols. 

Hinsdale's Old Northwest 

Tyler's Colonial Literature 

Biography. See Sparks' American Biogra- 
phy for Lives of Nathaniel Bacon, Daniel 
Boone, Lord Baltimore (Calvert), Jona- 
than Edwards, John Eliot, Patrick Henry, 
Anne Hutchinson, John Ledyard, Cotton 
Mather, Governor Oglethorpe, James Otis, 
Sir W. Phips, William Penn, Count Rum- 
ford (Benjamin Thompson), Captain John 
Smith, Roger Williams, Governor Win- 
throp ; Bigelow's Benjamin Franklin, 3 
vols., Montgomery's Franklin (Ginn and 
Company) 



§ Contemporaneous on Early History. * Books so marked are in progress, 



A LIST OF BOOKS ON AMERICAN HISTORY xxxv 



IV. The Revolution and the 
Constitution (i 763-1 789) 

Winsor's America, Vol. VI 
Scribner's United States, Vols. III-IV 
Frothingham's Rise of the Republic 
Reid's The Greatest Fact in Modern His- 
tory (the rise of the United States) 
Lecky's England (iSth century), 8 vols. 
Bancroft's United States, 6 vols. 
Hildreth's United States, Vols. I-III 
Hart's Formation of the Union (1750-1829) 
Sloane's French War and Revolution 
§ Hart's American History told by Contem- 
poraries, Vol. II 
Greene's American Revolution 
Ludlow's War of Independence 
Winsor's Handbook of the Revolution 
Trevelyan's American Revolution, 4 vols. 
Fisher's True History of the American Revo- 
lution 
Fisher's Struggle for American Independ- 
ence, 2 vols. 
Smith's Arnold's March to Quebec 
Smith's Our Struggle for the 14th Colony 

(Canada), 2 vols. 
Rand's Economic History since 1763 (re- 
vised edition) 
§Stedman's American War (British account) 
§Almon's " Prior Documents" (1764-1775) 
§Almon's Remembrancer (1775-1784), 17 

vols. 
Hosmer's Life of Governor Hutchinson 
§Moore's Diary of the Revolution, 2 vols. 
§Thacher's Military Journal 
§ Baroness Riedesel's Memoirs 
§ Galloway's Rise of the Rebellion (Tory) 
Sabine's Loyalists 

Carrington's Battles of the Revolution 
Abbott's Revolutionary Times 
Scudder's America 100 Years Ago 
Jefferson's Anas (in his Works), Vol. IX 
Gouverneur Morris' Diary (1775-1815), 2 

vols. 
Tyler's Literature of the Revolution, 2 vols. 
Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, 

2 vols. 
Von Hoist's Constitutional History, Vol. I 
McMaster's United States, Vol. I 
Landon's Constitutional History of the 
United States 

1 In Morse's American Statesmen Series. 
§ Contemporaneous or Early History. 



Kasson's Evolution of the Constitution of 
the United States 

§The Federalist 

§Elliot's Debates on the Constitution, 3 
vols. 

Wilson's The State 

Foster's Commentaries on the Constitution, 
2 vols. 

Curtis' History of the Constitution, 2 vols. 

Fiske's Critical Period in United States 
H istory 

Biography. Parker's Historic Americans, 
Bigelow's Franklin, 3 vols., Hosmer's 
Samuel Adams, 1 Morse's John Adams,i 
Greene's General Greene, 2 vols.. Lodge's 
Washington, 2 vols.,i Fiske's Irving's 
Washington and his Country (Ginn and 
Company), Sparks' American Biography, 
Lodge's Hamilton,! Gay's Madison,! Roose- 
velt's Gouverneur Morris 1 

V. The Union — National De- 
velopment (1789-1861) 

Schouler's United States, 5 vols. 
■ Scribner's United States, 5 vols. 

Hildreth's United States, Vols. IV-VI 

W'ilson's Division and Reunion (1829-18S9) 

Bryce's American Commonwealth, 2 vols. 

§ Hart's American History told by Contem- 
poraries, Vols. III-IV 

Walker's The Making of the Nation 

Winsor's America, Vol. VII 

*McMaster's United States (1784-1861), 6 
vols. 

Tucker's United States (1607-1841), 4 vols. 

Adams' United States (1801-1817), 9 vols. 

H. H. Bancroft's Pacific States, 34 vols. 

Rhodes' United States (1850-1877), 7 vols. 

Roosevelt's Naval War of 18 12 

Lossing's Field Book of the War of 18 12 

Cooper's Naval History 

Maclay's History of the Navy, 2 vols. 

Wilson's Slave Power, 3 vols. 

Page's The Old South 

Ingle's Southern Side Lights 

Ripley's W'ar with Mexico 

Jay's Mexican War 

Richardson's American Literature, 2 vols. 

Stedman and Hutchinson's American Liter- 
ature, 10 vols. 

* Books so marked are in progress. 



xxxvi LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Buckingham's Newspaper Literature, 2 vols. 

Thomas' History of Printing, 2 vols. 

Bishop's American Manufactures, 2 vols. 

Johnston's American Politics 

Stanwood's Presidential Elections 

§Dwight's Travels (1796-1 821), 4 vols. 

§Lewis and Clark's Expedition (1804-1806), 
2 vols. (Coues' edition) 

§ Martineau's Society in America ( 1 834-1 836) , 
4 vols. 

Johnston's American Orations, 4 vols. 

Tuckerman's American Art 

Webster's Great Orations (Whipple) 

Hubert's Lives of Inventors 

§Nile's Register (1811-1849), 76 vols. 

*Scudder's American Commonwealth Series, 
13 vols. 

Breck's Recollections (i 771-1862) 

Fred. Douglass' Autobiography 

Lyman Beecher's Autobiography (1775- 
1857), 2 vols. 

Curtis' Buchanan, 2 vols. 

Greeley's Recollections (1811-1860) 

Dolly Madison's Memoirs 

Quincy's Figures of the Past 

Goodrich's Recollections (i797-i854),2vols. 

S. J. May's Autobiography 

S. J. May's Antislavery Days 

J. F. Clarke's Antislavery Days 

Biography. See in Morse's American States- 
men Series (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), 
the Lives of John Adams, J. Q. Adams, 
Benton, Calhoun, Clay, Jackson, Jeffer- 
son, Madison, Monroe, Morris, Randolph, 
Washington, and Webster; in Sparks' 
American Biography, the Lives of Fulton 
and Rumford ; Sanborn's John Brown, 
Johnson's Garrison, Garrison's Life by his 
Children, 4 vols., Prime's MoFse, Rice's 
Morton, Abbott's Kit Carson, Upham's 
Fremont, Parton's Famous Americans, 
Mrs. Stowe's Men of Our Times, Hunt's 
American Merchants 

VI. The Period of the Civil 
War (1861-1865) 

Rhodes' United States, Vols. II-V 
Scribner's United States, Vols. IV-V 
Wilson's Division and Reunion (1829-1889) 
Burgess' Civil War, 2 vols. 
Curtis' Life of Buchanan, 2 vols. 

§ Contemporaneous or Early History. 



Greeley's American Conflict, 2 vols. 

Draper's Civil War, 3 vols. 

The Comte de Paris' Civil War, 4 vols. 

Scribner's Campaigns of the War, 13 vols. 

Schouler's Civil War 

Johnson's Short History of the War 

Dodge's Bird's-Eye View of the Civil War 

§ Hart's American History told by Contem- 
poraries, Vol. IV 

Ropes' Civil War 

The Battles and Leaders of the Civil War 
(Century Company), 4 vols. 

Nichols' Story of the Great March 

Conyngham's Sherman's March 

McPherson's Political History of the Re- 
bellion 

Blaine's Twenty Years of Congress, 2 vols. 

Swinton's Decisive Battles of the War 

Haskell's Battle of Gettysburg 

Abbot's Battle- Fields of '61 

Abbot's Blue-Jackets of '61 

Coffin's Four Years of Fighting 

Coffin*6 Drum- Beat of the Nation 

Coffin's Marching to Victory 

Coffin's Redeeming the Republic 

Coffin's Freedom Triumphant 

Thayer's Youth's History of the Civil War 

Gilmore's Lincoln and the Civil War 

Livermore's Numbers and Losses in the 
Civil War 

Billings' Hard Tack and Coffee 

Wilkeson'sRecollectionsof aPrivate(Union) 
Soldier 

Pinkerton's The Spy of the Rebelhon 

The Century Company's Famous Adventures 
and Prison Escapes of the Civil War 

Mrs. Livermore's My Story of the War 
(Hospital Life) 

Abbott's Prison Life in the South 

Watson's Life in the Confederate Army 

Watson's The Adventures of a Blockade 
Runner 

Pollard's Lost Cause (Confederate) 

Davis' Rise and Fall of the Confederate 
Government (Confederate), 2 vols. 

Cooke's Wearing of the Gray (Confederate) 

Johnston's Narrative of the War (Confed- 
erate) 

Gordon's Reminiscences of the Civil War 
(Confederate) 

Stephens' War between the States (Con- 
federate), 2 vols. 

* Books so marked are in progress. 



A LIST OF BOOKS ON AMERICAN HISTORY xxxvii 



Longstreet's From Manassas to Appomat- 
tox (Confederate) 

*Official Records of the War of the Rebellion 
(with atlas), i6o vols. 

Harper's Pictorial History of the Rebellion 

Biography. Nicolay and Hay's Abraham 
Lincoln, Holland's Lincoln, Herndon's 
Lincoln, 3 vols., Carpenter's Six Months 
in the White House, Morse's Lincoln, 
V 2 vols., McClure's Lincoln, McClellan's 

Own Story, Roman's Beauregard, 2 vols., 
Badeau's U. S. Grant, 3 vols.. Grant's 
Personal Memoirs, 2 vols., Sherman's 
Memoirs, 2 vols., Sheridan's Memoirs, 
2 vols., Farragut's Life of Farragut, 
Schuckers' Life of S. P. Chase, Cooke's 
Robert E. Lee, Cooke's "Stonewall" 
Jackson, Johnston and Browne's Life of 
Alexander H. Stephens, Sherman's Let- 
ters ; the Lives of Generals Scott, Han- 
cock, Thomas, J. E. Johnston, Lee, and 
Admirals Farragut and Porter, in the 
Great Commander Series 

VIL Reconstruction, — The New 
Nation (1865 to the Present 

TlME)l 

Rhodes' United States (1865-1877), Vols. 
V-VII 

Hart's American Nation (1865-1907), Vols. 
XXI-XXVI 

§ Hart's American History told by Contem- 
poraries, Vol. IV 

Garner and Lodge's United States, Vol. IV 

Scribner's United States, Vol. V 

Wilson's Division and Reunion 

Brown's The United States since the Civil 
War, 2 vols. 

Toman's Industrial United States 



Burgess' Reconstruction 

McPherson's Political History of Recon- 
struction 

Barnes' History of the 39th Congress 

Chadsey's Struggle between President 
Johnson and Congress (Columbia Uni- 
versity Studies, 1896) 

Scott's Reconstruction 

Bryce's American Commonwealth, 2 vols. 

Life and Works of Henry W. Grady 

Blaine's Twenty Years of Congress, 2 
vols. 

Hoar's Autobiography 

Johnston's American Politics 

Pike's Prostrate State (South Carolina) 

McPherson's Political Handbooks (1870- 
1894) 

Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia (1876-1902) 

Bancroft's Pacific States, 34 vols. 

Thayer's New West 

McClure's The South 

Washington's Up from Slavery 

Williams' Negro Race in America, 2 vols. 

Whitney's United States 

Shaler's United States, 2 vols. 

King's The New South 

Curry's The South 

Badeau's Grant in Peace 

Stoddard's Life of Garfield 

Wilson's Presidents (i 789-1893) 

Andrews' The United States in Our Time 

Whittle's Life of Cleveland 

Harper's War with Spain, 3 vols. 

McKinlcy's Messages to Congress 

Roosevelt's Messages to Congress 

Latane's America as a World Power 

Coolidge's United States as a World Power 

Taft's Messages to Congress 

Wilson's Historic Addresses (1917) 

March's History of the World War 



* Books so marked are in progress. § Contemporaneous or Early History. 

1 Many valuable articles relating to this period may be found in TJie Century^ The 
Atlantic, Scribner''s Magazine, McClure's Magazine, Harper's Magazine, The Outlook, 
The American Rcvicrv of Reviews, The World's Work, and The Nation. For a general 
index to these articles consult Poole's Index. 



TABLE OF BOUNDARIES OF THE UNITED STATES 

( The student of American history should bear in mind that the political boundaries of the 

United States have been determined to a very large degree by the 7iatural boundaries 

of (/) coastlines; (2) rivers and lakes ; (j) watersheds; {4) mountain ranges.) 

I- (1783) By the final treaty of peace of 1783 the boundary of the American 
Republic (see "Map of U. S. in 1783") was fixed, in general terms, as 
follows : The line separating the United States from the British possessions 
began at the Bay of Fundy and ran to " the northwest angle of Nova Scotia," 
thence " to the Highlands," and thence " along the said Highlands which 
divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from 
those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean." Thence the line ran westerly 
along the 45th parallel, the middle of the St. Lawrence, and the middle of 
the Great Lakes to the Lake of the Woods. On the west the line separat- 
ing the United States from the Spanish province of Louisiana was drawn 
from the Lake of the Woods to the head waters of the Mississippi and 
thence down the middle of that river to the 31st parallel, or the frontier 
of the Spanish province of West Florida. On the south the line extended 
due east from the Mississippi along the 31st parallel to the Chattahoochee 
River in Georgia, and thence to the sea, as shown on the map. (See " U. S. 
Statutes at Large," VII, 80; Macdonald's " Select Documents of U. S. His- 
tory"; Winsor's "America," VII; Gannett's "Boundaries of the U. S."; 
Hinsdale's " Bounding the Original U. S." in Mag. of Western History, II, 
401 ; Hart's " Epoch Maps of American History.") 

Much of the region through which the northern boundary ran was an 
unexplored wilderness and the line was largely pure guesswork. This was 
the case west of Lake Superior, and notably so in the northeast, between 
what is now the state of Maine and the British possessions. The result 
was that for nearly sixty years this northeast line was a subject of angry 
dispute, and the controversy was not finally settled until the negotiation of 
the Webster- Ashburton Treaty of 1842. (See Winsor's "America," VII, 
493; and Benton's "Thirty Years in the U. S. Senate," II, 421.) 
II. (1795) Spain refused to recognize the southern boundary of the United States 
as determined by the treaty of peace of 1783. (See above. No. I.) She 
claimed that her province of West Florida extended no miles north of the 
31st parallel, and that the true boundary line, separating her possessions in 
that quarter from the United States, extended due east from the Mississippi 
from the mouth of the Yazoo to the Chattahoochee River in Georgia. 

In 1795 Spain reUnquished her claim to the disputed territory, and, 
furthermore, granted to the United States the free navigation of the lower 

xxxviii 



BOUNDARIES OF THE UNITED STATES xxxix 

Mississippi, besides conceding the temporary right of deposit (or storage 
for merchandise) at the port of New Orleans. (See " U. S. Statutes at 
Large," VIII, and Winsor and Hinsdale, as above.) 

III. (1803) In 1803 the United States purchased the province of Louisiana, 

which Spain had re-ceded to France. That immense territory extended 
from the mouth of the Mississippi northward to its source, and had the 
Rocky Mountains as its natural boundary on the west. We bought the 
country without receiving any definite limits, and hence further negotia- 
tions became necessary with respect to boundary hnes. (See below.) 

IV. (1818) In consequence of the above purchase of Louisiana a treaty made 

by us with Great Britain in 1818 extended the northern line of the United 
States from the Lake of the Woods (see above, No. I) westward along 
the 49th parallel to the Rocky Mountains. The same treaty provided 
that the country west of the Rocky Mountains, north of the 42d parallel 
(or the recognized Spanish frontier), and known as the Oregon country, 
should be held jointly by the United States and Great Britain. 
V. (1819-1825) In 1819 Spain sold Florida to us, and in the treaty defined the 
unsettled western boundary of Louisiana (see above, Nos. Ill and IV) 
by an irregular line which began at the Gulf of Mexico and approximately 
followed the watershed south and west of the tributaries of the Mississippi 
to the 42d parallel. At the same time Spain agreed to renounce all claims 
to the Oregon country. This was to us a most important concession. 
Six years later (1825) a treaty made with Russia fixed the northern limit 
of the Oregon country (before unsettled) at 54° 40', or what is now the 
southern boundary of Alaska. 
VI. (1842) In 1842 the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (see Index under " Treaty ") 
settled the long dispute over the northeastern boundary (see above. 
No. I) and reaffirmed the hne of 1818 to the Rocky Mountains. (See 
above. No. IV.) 
VII. (1845) I^ 1845 we annexed Texas; the boundary question was settled by 

the Mexican War. 
VIII. (1846) In 1846 a treaty made by us with Great Britain divided the Oregon 
country between the two nations by extending the boundary line of the 
49th parallel (see above, No. IV) from the Rocky Mountains to the 
Pacific. (See, in general, the "Map of Acquisitions of Territory.") 
IX. (1848-1867) All subsequent United States boundary lines on the continent 
(see map cited above) were determined by Mexican cessions in 1848, the 
Gadsden Purchase in 1853, and the Alaska Purchase in 1867. 
X. (1898-1917) The islands recently acquired by the United States present 
no difficulties respecting boundaries. 



xl 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



POPULATION OP^ THE UNITED STATES AT EACH CENSUS 



Year 


Population 


Population Living 
IN Cities 


Inhabitants of Cities' 

IN EACH 100 OF THE 

Total Population 


1790 


3,929,214 


131,472 


3-35 


1800 


5,308,483 


210,873 


3-97 


1810 


7,239,881 


356,920 


4-93 


1820 


9,633,822 


475,135 


4-93 


1830 


12,866,020 


1,864,509 


6.72 


1840 


17,069,453 


1,453,994 


8.52 


1850 


23,191,876 


2,897,586 


12.49 


i860 


31,443,321 


5,072,256 


16.13 


1870 


38,558,371 


8,071,875 


20.93 


1880 


50,155,783 


14,772,438 


29.5 


1890 


62,622,250 


22,720,223 


36.1 


1900. 


76,304,799 


30,797,185 


40.5 


I910 


■ 101,100,000 


42,623,383 


46.32 



1 Places having a population of 8000 and over have usually been classed as cities, but 
the census of 1900 and that of 1910 include places of 2500 inhabitants and upwards as cities. 

2 This percentage is based on the continental population of the United States, namely, 
91,972,266. 

POPULATION OF THE FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES, 

1790-1860 



Year 


Free States 


Slave States 
(including Negroes) 


1790 


1,968,455 


1,961,372 


1800 


2,684,616 


2,621,316 


181O 


3,758,910 


3,480,902 


1820 


5,152,372 


4,485,819 


1830 


7,006,399 


5,848,312 


1840 


9,733,922 


7,334,433 


1850 


13,599,488 


9,663,997 


i860 


19,128,418 


12,315,372 



POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES 



xli 



REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS FROM 1790 T(^ 1913 



VUAK 


s 


ENATE 




House of 


Representatives 


Ratio of 
Represen- 


Free States 


Slave States 


Free States 


Slave States 


tation 1 


1790 


14 






12 


35 




30 


30,000 


1793 


16 






u 


n 




48 


33,000 


1796 


16 






ir. 


S7 




49 


33,000 


1803 


18 






16 


76 




^^5 


33,000 


I813 


18 






18 


103 




7^ 


35,000 


I816 


20 






18 


103 




78 


35,000 


I82I 


24 






24 


105 




81 


35,000 


1823 


24 






24 


123 




90 


40,000 


1833 


24 






24 


141 




99 


47,700 


1837 


26 






26 


142 




100 


47,700 


1843 


26 






26 


^35 




88 


70,680 


1848 


30 






30 


140 




91 


70,680 


1853 


32 






30 


144 




90 


93,423 


i860 


56 






30 


147 




. 90 


93,423 


1863 




72 






243 


127,381 


1873 




1^ 






293 


131,425 


1883 




76 






325 


151,911 


1893 




88 






356 


173,901 


1903 




90 






386 


193,175' 


I9I3 




96 






435 


212,407 



1 The number of representatives is fixed by Congress every ten years (Constitution, 
Art. 1, sect. 2). It was fixed for 1913 at one representative for every 212,407 persons. To 
find the electoral vote, add together the number of senators and representatives ; e.g. the 
electoral vote in 1790 was 91. 



QUESTIONS 

[It is believed that in many cases the headings to the sections throughout the hook (e.g. §§ 1-5, etc.) 
•will answer the purpose of questions, but where greater detail is desired the questions here given are 
itttended to supply the want.] 

I. The Discovery and Naming of America (1492-1522) 

Pages 1-4. When and where was Columbus bom? What was then thought about the 
earth ? What countries were then shown on the maps ? What was the Atlantic called ? Why ? 
What countries were known as the Indies ? Who were the Northmen ? What did they dis- 
cover in the year 850 ? What land did Leif Ericson discover about the year 1000 ? Is it 
known where Vineland was ? Did the discovery of America by Leif Ericson have any prac- 
tical result? Why not? Is it probable that Columbus ever learned anything about America 
from the Northmen ? What land did Columbus wish to reach ? What can you say about 
Marco Polo ? What was the first reason Columbus had for desiring to go to the Indies ? 
What was his second reason ? How was trade with the Indies then carried on ? How was 
that trade broken up ? 

Pages 4-10. What did the Portuguese attempt to do ? What did Diaz accomplish ? What 
plan had Columbus for reaching the Indies? What were his four reasons for his under- 
taking ? Did he make any mistakes in his geography ? Was it fortunate that he made these 
mistakes ? Why ? From whom did Columbus seek help ? What did people generally think 
of him ? What help did he finally receive ? When did he sail ? From what port ? How many 
vessels did he have ? What route did he take ? Where did he stop on the way ? How did the 
sailors feel about leaving the Canaries ? How was Columbus equipped for the great voyage ? 
What did he believe about it ? What is said of the voyage ? variation of the compass ? 
feeling of the crew ? When and why did Columbus change his course ? 

Pages 10-15. When and where did Columbus land ? What land did he believe it was ? 
What did he call the natives ? Why ? Did Columbus ever find out his mistake about Amer- 
ica ? Did he ever see any part of the mainland of what is now the United States ? When 
Columbus returned to Spain, how was he received ? Of what countries did he speak in his 
letter to the King and Queen ? How did the Pope divide the world ? Why did he divide it? 
Was Spain satisfied with the discoveries of Columbus ? Why not? What nickname did the 
rabble give him ? What did they say about him ? What did the governor of Haiti do to 
Columbus in 1500? How many voyages did Columbus make to America? (See note 2, page 10.) 
Where and how did he die ? Where was he buried ? (See note i, page 14.) Where are his re- 
mains now? (See note i, page 14.) Did Columbus fail in anything ? What did he accomplish ? 

Pages 15-16. Who discovered the continent of North America ? Where ? When ? Did 
England gain anything by that discovery ? What did Burke say about it ? 

Pages 16-18. Who was Amerigo Vespucci and what did he do? What did he write? 
How did America get its name ? What year was that ? When did the name America first 
appear on a map ? (See note i, page 19.) 

Pages 18-19. What did people mean when they spoke of the " New World " ? What did 
most people think it was ? Who first discovered America to be a new and distinct continent, 
— a real New World? How and when did he make that discovery ? What motto was on the 
coat of arms given to Magellan ? Was Europe pleased with that discovery ? What was 
Europe still bent on doing ? What did most explorers continue to do for more than a hun- 
dred years ? What voyages are mentioned in the Summary on page 19 ? 

II. Attempts at Exploring and Colonizing America (1509-1600) 

Pages 20-21. Who was Ponce de Leon ? What did he discover ? What name did he give 
the country ? Why did he so name it ? 

Pages 21-22. What great body of water did Balboa discover in 15 13 ? What did he call it ? 
What did Magellan name it afterward ? What country did Cortez conquer ? What did he 
want the King of Spain to do about the Isthmus of Panama ? What did the King of France 
do about America ? What great river did Cartier discover ? 

xlii 



QUESTIONS xliii 

Pages 23-25. Give an account of De Soto's exploring expedition. What great river did 
he discover in 1541? Where v^^as he buried? Give an account of Coronado's expedition. 
What canyon did he discover? How far east did he get? What animals did he see and 
hunt ? 

Pages 25-27. Who were the Huguenots? Where did they attempt to plant colonies? 
What did the King of Spain resolve to do? What did Menendez do in Florida? What city 
did he begin to build in 1565 ? Who was De Gourgues? What did he do in Florida? 

Pages 27-28. What is said about the English exploration of America? What did Sir 
Martin Frobisher try to do? What country did Sir Humphrey Gilbert take possession of? 
Who was Sir Francis Drake? What great voyage did he make in 1577-1580? Where did 
he land in America? What did he hope to discover? How far north did he go? What 
country did he take possession of for England ? 

Pages 28-30. What did Queen Elizabeth do for Sir Walter Raleigh ? What did Raleigh 
think about America ? What expedition did he send out to America ? What island did the 
explorers reach ? What name did Queen Elizabeth give to the " Good Land " ? What did 
Raleigh do the next year ? How long did the emigrants stay in Virginia ? What " root " did 
they carry back to England ? What weed did they carry back? What did Queen Elizabeth 
say about it ? Give an account of Raleigh's second colony. Was the colony a success ? 
What did Raleigh say ? How is Sir Walter Raleigh regarded ? 

Pages 30-32. What white settlers were there in America in 1600? In 1600 what flag 
seemed destined to wave over the whole American continent ? What did the explorers of 
America find it to be ? In what two ways is America superior to Europe ? What is said 
about the natural wealth of our country? What did Gladstone say about America? (See 
also pages 42-43 on the physical geography of America in relation to history.) What did 
America offer to those who were disappointed with the Old World ? 

The American Indians 

Pages 32-38. What is said about the number of Indians east of the Mississippi? Did 
they have any roads? any farms? any cities or towns? How did America seem to them? 
What is said of the Algonquins and the Iroquois ? Describe the appearance of the Indians. 
What was the " scalp lock" ? How did the Indians live ? What did the men do ? What did 
the women do ? What three things did the Indians invent? What is said of Indian govern- 
ment ? What was a " wampum " belt made of ? What was it sometimes used for ? What did 
the treaty belt given to William Penn represent ? When the Indians held a council, why was 
a " wampum " belt made ? The beads of " wampum " strings had another use ; what was it ? 
Did the Indian have as much liberty as the white man? Mention some things the Indian 
could not do. What was a "totem"? Mention some of its uses. What was the Indian's 
religious belief? What did the Indian think about stealing and lying? What would Indian 
boys do to show that they despised pain ? Why did the Indians torture captives ? What did 
they always respect ? Tell the story of General Stark's running the gantlet. What can you 
say about the Indian and the white man? What was the Indian's school? What did the 
Indian teach the white man? Mention an instance in which the Indians and the white 
men agreed to help each other fight. What good effect did wars with the Indians have on 
the English colonists ? 

Effects of the Discovery of America on Europe 

Pages 38-40. What effect did the discovery of America have on geographical knowledge ? 
What change had to be made in the map of the world ? What effect did the discovery of 
America have on European enterprise ? on gold and silver ? on trade and navigation ? 
What new products were obtained from America ? What luxuries ? What effect did the 
discovery of America have on sugar, cotton, rice, and cof¥ee ? What effect did it have on 
men's minds ? What did it make everybody feel about America ? What effect did that feeling 
have ? What is said in the Summary about the three classes of discoveries and explorations 
of this period ? What white men held America in 1600 ? 

On the physical geography of the United States in its relation to history, see pages 
42-43- 



xliv LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

III. Permanent English and French Settlements made in America (1607) 

1. Virginia, 1607 

Pages 41-48. Why did many English wish to go to Virginia? How large was Virginia? 
What power did the charter granted by the King give to the London Company ? What to 
the Plymouth Company? What was a charter? (See note 2, page 20.) What did the com- 
panies hope to find ? How were the colonies to be governed ? What was the most important 
article in the Virginia charter? What four instructions did the King give? When the 
London Company's emigrants sailed, who went with them ? Where did the colonists settle in 
1607 ? What did they name the place ? Could they vote or make laws in their new home ? 
Did they come into possession of any land ? Did they own what they produced ? How did 
they live ? What happened to many of them that summer ? What ocean did they set out to 
find ? What happened to Captain Smith ? What is said about Pocahontas ? What kind of 
" gold " did they find ? What is said about Champlain ? Why did Captain Smith go back to 
England ? What happened after he left ? What did the colonists resolve to do ? Did they go ? 
Why not ? How did Governor Dale preserve order ? What did he do if a man refused to go 
to church ? What did Governor Dale give to every settler? What effect did that gift have ? 

Pages 48-52. What is said about raising tobacco ? What four effects did the cultivation of 
tobacco have ? Did the Virginia colonists have many towns or schools or printing presses ? 
What great event occurred in 1619 ? What did the choosing of this Assembly give to every 
colonist? What is said about women's coming to Virginia? 

Pages 52-58. When did negro slavery begin in Virginia? How did people then feel about 
slavery ? What is said about white " apprentices " ? What class of people did the King and 
the English judges send to Virginia ? What did the King do about the charter ? What is 
said of Sir William Berkeley ? What is said of the Puritans and of the Cavaliers ? What 
about the civil war in England ? To what country did many Cavaliers emigrate ? Why ? 
Why did Governor Berkeley retire from office ? Mention two eminent Virginians who de- 
scended from Cavalier emigrants. When Governor Berkeley became governor again, what 
did he do ? Why did England pass Navigation Laws ? What effect did these laws have in 
America? What action did King Charles II take about Virginia? When the Indians began 
killing the colonists, what did Nathaniel Bacon do ? What about the " White Apron Brigade " ? 
What did Bacon do to Jamestown ? How did Governor Berkeley punish some of the " rebels " ? 
What happened at Williamsburg,Virginia, just a century after the " Bacon Laws " were passed ? 

2. New Netherland, or New York 

Pages 58-64, Describe Henry Hudson's expedition. Who took possession of the country 
on the Hudson River? What did they name it? Why were the English and the French 
jealous of New Netherland? What island did Peter Minuit buy from the Indians in 1626? 
A\hat did he pay for it ? What is that land worth to-day ? What did the Dutch call their 
settlement on that island ? Who were the Patroons ? What is said of the estate of a patroon 
named Van Rensselaer? What can you say about Peter Stujrvesant? How did he defend 
the " city " of New Amsterdam ? What did that palisade mark ? What did the Dutch predict 
about that " city " ? Why did the English claim New Netherland ? What happened in 1664 ? 
What names were changed ? Why ? 

3. New Jersey 

Pages 64-66. Who first claimed the country between the Hudson and the Delaware ? 
What did the English declare ? What did the Duke of York do with the country ? How did 
it get' the name of New Jersey ? Who finally bought New Jersey ? With what people did the 
Friends, or Quakers, make a treaty? When the Indians found an Englishman asleep, what 
would they say? What kind of government did the Friends grant to the colonists? How 
was New Jersey ruled from 1738 to the Revolution ? 

4. Massachusetts (Plymouth Colony) 

Pages 66-71. What is said about the lack of religious liberty in England in 1607 ? What 
three classes of Englishmen objected to paying taxes to support the Church of England ? 
Why did the Separatists, or Pilgrims, go to Holland ? Why did they resolve to leave Holland 
and go to America ? To what part of America did they wish to go ? Who helped them to 



QUESTIONS xlv 

go, and on what hard conditions ? In what vessel did they sail from England ? What is said 
of Captain Myles Standish ? Why did they stop at Cape Cod ? What compact or agree- 
ment did they make in Provincetown harbor? Whom did they elect for their first governor ? 
Where did the Pilgrims finally land on December 21, 1620 ? What is said of their first winter 
at Plymouth? What governor succeeded Governor Carver? How did the Pilgrims decide 
all important questions and make their laws? With what chief did they make a treaty? 
What is said about Canonicus and Governor Bradford ? What is said of Myles Standish 
and the Indians? How did the Pilgrims free themselves from the English merchants or 
speculators ? What did the Pilgrims do for a living ? To what larger colony was Plymouth 
finally joined ? What was it that made the Pilgrims great ? What is better than success ? 

4. Massachusetts (Massachusetts Bay Colony) 

Pages 72-73. What is said of Governor Endicott? Why did he cut the cross out of the 
English flag ? When did the great Puritan emigration take place ? Who was appointed 
governor of the colony ? What did the colonists name the place where they settled in 1630 ? 
Why? What is said of the colonists who came over? How was Massachusetts governed? 
What did the people do in town meeting? What did Thomas Jefferson say about the New 
England town meetings? Who could vote in Massachusetts? How did the people live? 
What commerce was carried on with the West Indies? 

Pages 74-76. Who was Roger Williams? Why did he leave Massachusetts? With what 
chief did he take refuge ? What city did he begin to build in the following spring ? What 
is said about Mrs. Anne Hutchinson ? What about the Baptists ? What did the colonists do 
in regard to schools? How did Harvard University originate? What work did the Rev. 
John Eliot undertake ? What was the New England Confederation ? What were its two 
chief objects ? How did the remembrance of the Confederation help the colonists? 

Pages 77-81. Describe the coming of the Friends, or Quakers. What did the Quakers 
believe ? What did they refuse to do ? What effect did the treatment the Quakers had re- 
ceived in England have on them? What did the Puritans of Massachusetts do to the Quak- 
ers? Give an account of King Philip's War. What is said about the Salem witchcraft? 
Why did King Charles 1 1 take away the charter of Massachusetts ? Who was the first royal 
governor of the colony? What did the people do to him? What is said about the new 
charter which the colony received from King William III? 

5. New Hampshire 

Pages 81-83. What was the territory called which was granted to Gorges and Mason ? 
Where was the first permanent settlement made in it? How did Gorges and Mason divide 
the territory ? What name did Mason give to his part ? What was the region west of the 
Connecticut called ? What settlements were made in Maine ? What colony and state held 
control of Maine from 1652 to 1820? What is said about Londonderry, New Hampshire ? 
What very noted man was born in a New Hampshire log cabin ? Wliy did New Hampshire 
join Massachusetts ? What kind of province did it finally become ? 

6. Connecticut 

Pages 84-88. What people first tried to get possession of the Connecticut valley? What 
two towns were built by emigrants from the vicinity of Boston ? Who built a fort at Say- 
brook, at the mouth of the Connecticut ? What eflfect did it have ? Describe the emigration of 
the Rev. Thomas Hooker of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Hartford. What is said about 
the war with the Pequots ? Give an account of the Connecticut constitution. What was there 
remarkable about it ? Did it impose any restriction on voting ? Of what was it the parent ? 
Give some account of the colony of New Haven. What kind of government did it establish ? 
Who were the " regicides " ? What is said about Whalley and Goffe ? What did Charles IPs 
charter do for Connecticut ? Describe how Governor Andros tried to take away that famous 
charter. 

7. Maryland 

Pages 89-93. Who were the Catholic Pilgrims, and why did they come to America? To 
whom did the King make a grant of land ? What name did it receive ? Where in Marvland 
did the Catholic Pilgrims settle ? What is said about the first English Catholic Church in 



xlvi LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

America ? What did Lord Baltimore do for the colonists ? What is said about their freedom 
of worship ? What about the Toleration Act of 1649 ? What people sought refuge in Mary- 
land ? What is said about the Clayborne and Ingle rebellion ? What was done later about 
the Toleration Act? What did the Assembly declare concerning Lord Baltimore? Were 
those rights restored ? Was freedom of worship restored ? What happened when William 
and Mary came to the throne ? What city was founded in 1729 ? What is said about Mason 
and Dixon's Line ? Why did it become famous ? 

8. Rhode Island 

Pages 93-96. Where did Roger Williams go when he fled from Massachusetts ? Where did 
he and his companions finally build homes for themselves ? What name did he give to the 
place? What church did he, with others, found there? How does Providence rank to-day ? 
What liberty did the colony of Providence grant to every one ? What great American prin- 
ciple did he first put in practice ? What does the Constitution of the United States say about 
religion ? What is said of the charter which Williams obtained in England ? Did Rhode 
Island remain true to the principle of " soul liberty" ? Was there any restriction put on the 
power to vote ? Did the colony ever restrict full freedom of worship to any one ? How 
about fighting for independence ? 

9. New Sweden, or Delaware 

Pages 96-97. Where did the Swedes begin a New Sweden ? What did the Dutch claim ? 
What did Governor Stuyvesant of New Amsterdam do ? What did the English Duke of York 
do about ten years later ? To whom did he sell the country ? What name did William Penn 
give to it ? What action did " The Territories," or Delaware, take in 1776 ? What did Delaware 
do in 1787 ? What state first entered the American Union ? 

10-11. North and South Carolina 

Pages 97-101. What grant did Charles II make to Lord Clarendon and his associates? 
What name was given to the territory? How large was the territory? What were the first 
settlements made in it ? What city was founded in 1680 ? Who were the Huguenots ? Why 
did they go to Carolina ? What is said about them ? Name two distinguished men who de- 
scended from the Huguenots. What was the " Grand Model " ? What did this constitution 
establish? What was the condition of the common people under this constitution? What 
did the people resolve to do? Did they succeed? How was the colony of Carolina divided 
in 1712? How were North and South Carolina governed? What did North Carolina pro- 
duce ? What is said about the introduction of rice into South Carolina ? Who first began to 
raise indigo in South Carolina? What was the result? After the Revolution what did the 
people find was more profitable ? What did Josiah Quincy say about Charleston in 1773 ? 

12. Pennsylvania 

Pages 101-105. Charles II owed William Penn a large sum of money ; how did he pay the 
debt ? What name did the King give to the territory ? What people desired to emigrate to 
Pennsylvania? What was the basis on which Penn resolved to establish a "free colony "? 
What did the King think about Penn's plan ? Did Penn agree with him ? Where did Penn 
and his Quakers land ? Describe the ceremony of his taking possession of his vast estate. 
What city did he found in 1682? What Bible name did he give to it? What is said about 
Philadelphia? What did Penn and the people enact at Chester? What twofold foundation 
did that " Great Law " have ? What did Penn say about liberty ? What did he say about obe- 
dience ? What did the " Great Law " say about the worship of God ? What about the right 
to vote ? What about children learning a trade or occupation ? What about the death pen- 
alty? What about prisons ? Give an account of Penn's treaty with the Indians. Was that 
treaty ever broken ? What is said about the wampum belt ? What is said about Philadelphia 
at the beginning of the Revolution ? What body of men met there in 1774 ? What was de- 
clared there in 1776 ? What was framed there in 1787 ? Where was the capital of the United 
States from 1 790-1 800? 



QUESTIONS xlvii 

13. Georgia 

Pages 106-108. What did General James Oglethorpe, with others, obtain from the King? 
What was the new colony called? Why? How far did the territory extend? What three 
things did the founders of Georgia wish to do ? What town did the first emigrants build ? 
What did they hope to produce ? In the end what was found more profitable ? What did 
the founders of Georgia forbid the people to buy ? What effect did the prohibition have ? 
Why were the colonists discontented? What kind of government did the founders of 
Georgia establish ? In what condition did this keep the great body of the people ? What is 
said about liberty of worship ? What about the ownership of land ? What is said of John and 
Charles Wesley? What of the Rev. George Whitefield ? How did John Wesley feel about 
negro slavery? How did Whitefield feel about it? What was finally done about the pur- 
chase of slaves, the importation of rum, and the land laws ? What was the result ? What did 
the colony do with regard to attacks by the Spaniards ? What did Georgia become in 1752 ? 
What is said about the natural wealth of Georgia ? 

The French Exploration of the West 

Pages 109-114. Who were the first explorers of the West? Where did the Catholic mis- 
sionaries plant missions among the Indians ? Who was Joliet ? Who was Father Marquette ? 
Describe their journey to the Mississippi. How far did they descend on that river? De- 
scribe their coming back. Who was La Salle ? Describe his great journey. What did he do 
when he reached the Gulf of Mexico in 1682 ? What name did he give to the vast territory ? 
What did John Law try to do in Louisiana ? What colony did Iberville estabhsh ? What city 
did Bienville found in 1718? What part of America did the English hold? What did the 
French hold ? Where did La Salle build forts ? Why ? 

The French and Indian Wars (16S9-1763) 

Pages 114-117. Why did war break out in 1689 between the English and the French 
colonists? How long did the war really last? In the first or " King William's War" what 
village did the French and Canadian Indians destroy? What happened to the Indians who 
carried off Mrs. Dustin of Haverhill? What fort did Sir William Phips capture? In the 
second or ''Queen Anne's War" what town did the French and Indians burn? What 
country did the New Englanders conquer? In the third or " King George's War" what 
remarkable victory did the New Englanders gain ? Describe how they gained it. What two 
results did the taking of Louisburg have ? What was the fourth or " French and Indian 
War" fought to decide ? What forts had the French built ? 

Pages 117-120. Why did Virginian colonists form the Ohio Company ? What new forts 
did the French begin to build? Why? Where was the "Gateway of the West"? What 
young man did the Governor of Virginia send as a messenger to the French ? Why ? What 
results did that expedition have ? Who built Fort Duquesne ? Where ? What fort did 
Washington begin to build? Did he hold it? Describe the Albany Convention of 1754. 
What was Franklin's snake ? Why was not his plan of union adopted ? Why were the 
authorities in England opposed to any union of the American colonies ? 

Pages 120-124. Give an account of Braddock's expedition against Fort Duquesne. What 
was said in Virginia about the defeat ? What did a clergyman say about Washington ? Why 
did the English drive the Acadians into exile ? What is said of William Pitt? What is said 
about Fort Duquesne ? What is it called to-day ? Describe the great victory which General 
Wolfe gained in 1759. What did Wolfe say when he was dying? What did Montcalm say ? 
What did Pontiac, the Indian chief, undertake to do ? What result did Wolfe's great victory 
have on France ? What did the treaty of peace of 1762 give to England ? Over how much 
of America did the English flag float in 1763 ? Why was England wiUing that Spain should 
hold the great province of Louisiana ? What river now became the western boundary of the 
American colonies ? What four results did the four English and French wars have on the 
American colonies ? 

General State of the Country in 1763 

Pages 124-129. How large was the population of the American colonies in 1763? What 
proportion was slaves? How were these slaves distributed? Of what race was the majority 
of the colonists ? What were the four chief cities ? What is said about foreign trade ? How 



xlviii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

did England feel about American manufactures? What is said of the Navigation Laws? 
What bounties did England pay ? What did England buy from the colonists ? What is said 
about smuggling ? How were the colonies governed ? What is said of the colonial legislative 
assemblies? What about trial by jury and protection by the common law? What motto 
was on a flag adopted in 1775 ? Give some account of life among the farmers. Give some 
account of life in the cities. 

Pages 129-132. What is said about travel — the "Flying Machine"? What about post- 
age ? What about the hospitality of rich planters to travelers ? What about the stocks, the 
pillory, and other punishments ? What is said about education ? What is said about the Rev. 
Jonathan Edwards ? What was Benjamin Franklin's best known work? Can you repeat 
any of " Poor Richard's " sayings ? Describe Franklin's electrical experiments. What did 
Franklin say about electricity ? Was he right or wrong ? 

IV. The Revolution ; the Constitution (1763-1789) 

Pages 134-141. What is said about American commerce in 1763? What did King George III 
resolve to do? What is said about the King? How did he interfere with American com- 
merce ? What were " Writs of Assistance " ? How were they used in Boston ? Why did the 
King propose to tax the colonists ? Why did they object ? Give some account of the Stamp Act 
of 1765. What did the " Stamp Act Congress " declare ? When was the Stamp Act repealed ? 
What was the Declaratory Act ? What was the " Boston Massacre " ? Give an account of the 
Townshend Acts of 1767. What did Samuel Adams, with others, resolve to do ? What change 
in the Townshend taxes did Parliament make ? Give an account of what the colonists did 
with the taxed tea. Describe the " Boston Tea Party." What action did Parliament take 
with regard to Massachusetts ? What did Patrick Henry say about it ? What did the " Com- 
mittees of Correspondence " do ? When and where did the First Continental Congress meet ? 
Did they ask for representation in Parliament ? Why not ? What three things did they do ? 
What action did INIassachusetts take ? What did a South Carolina paper say about the spirit 
of liberty ? Who were the Tories ? What was done to them ? 

1. From the Beginning of the Revolution in 1775 to the Declaration 
OF Independence, 1776 

Pages 142-152. Describe the British expedition to Lexington and Concord. What hap- 
pened the morning after the retreat of the British to Boston ? When and where did the 
becond Continental Congress meet ? What three things did it do ? From this time until 
17S1 what body governed the colonies ? Give an account of Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga. 
Describe the battle of Bunker Hill. Who now took command of the American army at 
Cambridge ? How large was that army? Give an account of the expedition against Quebec. 
Describe Arnold's progress through the forests of Maine. How did Washington drive the 
British out of Boston ? What is said of Fort Sullivan or Moultrie ? For what had the Ameri- 
cans been fighting up to 1776? What did Washington say about independence? What 
did Paine declare in his "Common Sense"? Did the English people want to fight the 
Americans ? What troops did the King hire to fight for him ? Had the Americans sought 
separation from Great Britain? Give an account of the Declaration of Independence. 

2. The War of Independence, from July 4, 1776, to the Victory of 
Saratoga, 1777 

Pages 153-161. What did the British hope to do at New York ? What is said of our navy ? 
How did Washington prepare to meet the British ? How did the British army and the Amer- 
ican compare in numbers? Describe the battle of Long- Island and Washington's retreat. 
What about Nathan Hale? What forts did Washington lose? What is said about General 
Charles Lee ? Describe Washington's retreat across the Delaware. What did Washington 
do on Christmas night, 1776? What did Robert Morris do for him on New Year's morning, 
1777 ? How did Washington outwit Cornwallis ? What noted foreigners joined the American 
army? Describe Burgoyne's expedition, with the battles of Oriskany and Bennington. 
Describe Howe's expedition to Philadelphia, Where did Washington go with his army 
after he was repulsed at Germantown ? What great victory, known as " the turning point in 
the Revolution," did the Americans gain near Saratoga in 1777 ? What officers really won 



QUESTIONS xlix 

that battle ? What about the Stars and Stripes ? What two important results did the victory 
at Saratoga have? What treaty did Benjamin Franklin make with France in 1778 ? What 
is said of Franklin and Washington in the Revolution ? 

3. From the Treaty with France to the End of the War for Independence 

(1778-1783) 

Pages 161-170. What is said of Washington at Valley Forge ? What did England offer us 
in 1778? Why? What made the British abandon Philadelphia? Describe the battle of 
Monmouth, and speak of General Lee's disgrace. What did the Indians do at Wyoming and 
Cherry Valley ? What did George Rogers Clark do in the West ? What was the British 
plan in the South ? What victory did " Mad Anthony Wayne " win on the Hudson ? What 
news did we get from Captain Paul Jones? After the British had taken Charleston, South 
Carolina, how did Marion and Sumter help the American cause ? What was the result of the 
battle of Camden ? What of that of King's Mountain? Give an account of Arnold's treason. 
What is said of the winter at Morristown? Describe General Greene's campaign in the 
South. What occurred at Steele's tavern? What did General Greene succeed in doing? 
Where had Cornwallis gone ? Why did he finally go to Yorktown ? Describe Washington's 
siege of Yorktown and the result. What is said of Washington's crowning victory ? What 
did Lord North exclaim when he heard of it ? Can you give a short summary of the Revo- 
lution ? What did George III say in his speech on the United States? What did he say to 
John Adams ? What did the treaty of peace secure to us in 1783 ? 

The Articles of Confederation. The Constitution 

Pages 170-176. What were the Articles of Confederation? When were they adopted? 
Under these Articles what two great things did the government accomplish ? For what two ' 
reasons were the Articles unsatisfactory ? What was the condition of the country ? Could a 
man buy or sell freely outside of his own state ? Why not ? Give an account of " Shays' Re- 
bellion." How did the Northwest Territory help keep the Union together? Mention four 
provisions of the Ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory. What_ did 
Washington, Franklin, and others think must be done about the Articles of Confederation? 
Give an account of the convention called to make a new constitution in 1787. What three 
compromises were agreed to? What do the opening lines of .the Constitution show? With 
what words does the Constitution begin? What party favored adopting the Constitution? 
What party opposed it ? Why ? What did all the states finally decide ? What part did Alex- 
ander Hamilton take in this ? When was the new Constitution adopted ? When did it go into 
effect ? Can you name one or more of the six great objects which it accomplished ? What 
were the ten amendments to the Constitution called? How many other amendments were 
made later? What did the " Bill of Rights" do? What effect did it have on many Anti- 
Federalists ? What did John Adams say about the United States ? 

\ V, The Union — National Development (1789-1861) 

The Federalist Party in Power 
George Washington, President, Federalist (1789-1797) 

Pages 177-182. What two parties united to elect Washington President? What city was 
then the national capital? Describe his inauguration. What four men did he choose for 
his cabinet? To what office did he appoint John Jay? What did Congress do in 1789 to 
obtain money to carry on the government? What three debts did Hamilton persuade the 
government to pay ? What influence did that policy have on our credit ? When was the 
first census taken ? What is meant by the " Federal Ratio " ? What is said of the first 
United States bank ? of the first mint ? What two regularly organized political parties had 
their origin in the discussion over the bank ? What did the members of the Republican 
party afterward call themselves? What did the Federalists believe ? What did the Republi- 
cans (or Democrats) believe ? Give some account of " Citizen " Genet. What proclamation 
did Washington issue ? 

Pages 183-187. Describe the emigration to the West. What is said of Cincinnati ? What 
did General Wayne make the Indians do ? Give some account of the manufacture of cotton 
in Rhode Island. What machine did Eli Whitney invent in 1793 ? What effect did it have 



] LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

on the production of cotton ? on the export of cotton ? on the building of cotton mills at the 
North ? on slave labor ? What caused the Whisky Rebellion ? What action did Washington 
take ? What did the treaty with Spain do for us ? What is said about Jay's treaty with Eng- 
land (1795) ? What did certain abusive newspapers make Washington say ? What advice did 
Washington give the people in his farewell address ? When he left office in what condition 
did he leave the country ? 

John Adams, President, Federalist (1797-1801) 

Pages 188-190. When President Adams entered office how did France feel and act toward 
us ? What were the " X. Y. Z. Papers " ? When war with France broke out what new song 
was sung ? What did our sailors do ? Why did Congress pass the Alien and the Sedition 
Laws ? What is said of the first of these laws ? What of the second ? What resolutions did 
Kentucky and Virginia pass in regard to these laws? What great man died in 1799? What 
marks of respect were shown to his memory in France and in England ? 

VI. The Democratic Party in Power 

Thomas Jefferson, President, Democrat (1801-1S09) 

Pages 191-195. What did Jefferson call himself ? On what did he pride himself ? What is 
said about the city of Washington ? What appointments to office did Jefferson make ? How 
far west was it thought the United States might permanently extend ? Was it strange men 
should have thought so then ? Give an account of our new navy and of what it taught the 
pirates of Tripoli. What did the Pope say about it? Describe the purchase of Louisiana 
territory in 1803. How much land did we get? What did we pay an acre for it? What four 
advantages came from the purchase ? Give an account of Lewis and Clark's expedition. 
What effect did it have on the Oregon territory? 

Pages 196-199. What effect did the French and English war have on us? What did the 
British man-of-war Leopard diot W^hy did Congress pass the Embargo Act? What did it 
do? Why did Congress repeal the act? What new act was passed, and what effect did it 
have ? Why was Aaron Burr tried for treason ? What was the result ? Give an account of 
" Fulton's Folly" in 1807. What result came from his great invention? What is said about 
the Savannah^ and about lines of ocean steamers ? When was the importation of slaves for- 
bidden ? What did Jefferson say about slavery ? 

James Madison, President, Democrat (1809-1817) 

Pages 199-200. Describe the reopening of trade with Great Britain. What was the result ? 
How did Napoleon deceive us ? What about Tecumseh ? What of the battle of Tippecanoe ? 

The War of 1812 

Pages 23:-2o8. What were the Henry letters ? What effect did they have ? What was the 
real cause of the War of 1812? What was the so-called "right of search"? How did New 
England feel about the war? What is said of General Hull ? How many war ships did Eng- 
land have ? How many had we ? What about the Constitution and the Guerricre ? Describe 
Commodore Perry's victory. What did General Jackson do at Tohopeka? What is said of 
Chippewa and Lundy's Lane ? Describe the taking and burning of Washington. Give an 
account of Macdonough's victory. What about the British attack on Fort McHenry? What 
song was written on that occasion ? Describe Jackson's great battle at New Orleans. W' hat 
about the treaty of peace ? What was the Hartford Convention ? What was the War of 18 12 
called ? What result did it have on the ocean ? What did it show foreign countries ? What 
effect did it have on the manufacture of cotton and woolen ? How did Congress safeguard 
these mills ? 

James Monroe, President, Democrat (1817-1825) 

Pages 209-219. What is said of Monroe's inauguration ? What about his journey through 
the North ? What showed that the " Era of Good Feeling " had begun ? Speak of the first 
Seminole War. What territory did we buy in 1819 ? What great question about slavery came 
up then ? What is said about the change of feeling about slavery ? Why did the South want 



QUESTIONS li 

free trade with Europe ? Why did the North want a protective tariff ? Why did the North 
oppose the extension of slavery west of the Mississippi? Why did the South demand it? 
What was the great Missouri Compromise of 1820 ? Speak of the desire to reach the West, 
and of the National Road. Describe the traffic over that road. How did the Monroe Doc- 
trine originate in 1823 ? What does it mean ? Describe the visit of Lafayette in 1825. What 
inscription is on his monument in Paris ? 

John Quincy Adams, President, Independent Democrat (1825-1829) 

Pages 219-225. What is said of the building of the Erie Canal ? Describe its opening in 
1825. What has that canal done for New York and for the country? What is the state of 
New York now doing for that canal ? What is said about " steam wagons " ? Speak of the 
first passenger railway in America. What about the first American locomotive and the race 
(1S30) ? Describe the growth of railways in the United States. How do they strengthen the 
Union? What is said about drinking habits in early days? What about the movement to 
overcome intemperance ? What is said about Prohibition ? 

VII. The New Democracy 

Andrew Jackson, President, Democrat (1829-1837) 

Pages 226-230. What is said of Jackson's character ? What was the " political revolution " ? 
What was the "Spoils System"? Who published the Liberator in 1831 ? What had Mr. 
Garrison made up his mind to do ? What did Dr. Channing write to Daniel Webster? What 
about the slave insurrection in Virginia ? What happened to Mr. Garrison ? What did Daniel 
Webster and Abraham Lincoln think about slavery and the Union ? Speak of the Abolition 
societies, of petitions to Congress, of John Quincy Adams in Congress. Why did President 
Jackson put an end to the second United States Bank ? What did he do with the public money ? 

Pages 230^34. What stend did South Carolina take in regard to protective tariffs ? Why ? 
What did Calhoun call the tariff of 1828? What did he demand? What did South Carolina 
refuse to do ? What was that refusal called ? What senator upheld nullification ? Who 
replied to him? When Calhoun defended secession what did Webster say? What did 
Webster make Americans realize? What did President Jackson say he must do? What 
did he do? What action did Henry Clay take? What effect did his action have? 

Pages 234-239. Speak of the growth of the country ; of the extension of canals and rail- 
ways ; of the use of coal ; and of the express system. What Indian war broke out at the West ? 
What was the second Seminole War? What can you say about Chicago ? What painters had 
America produced ? What three noted writers ? What well-known book was published in 1828? 
What other noted writers can you name? What is said about the first cheap newspaper? 
What new political party appeared about this time ? What eminent statesman was leader of 
the new party ? 

Martin Van Buren, President, Democrat (1837-1841) 

Pages 239-244. What great business panic 'began in 1837? Can you describe it? What 
effect did it have on factories, mills, and workmen ? How did it affect a number of states ? 
What were the three chief causes of the panic ? What good result did it have ? When was 
the independent treasury of the United States permanently established ? Give an account of 
the rise of the Mormons. To what part of the West did they finally emigrate ? What great 
and successful work did they do there ? Speak of emigration to the United States. Is the 
door wide open to all now ? When do we say, " Come in " ? When do we say, " Keep out " ? 
What is said of American " clipper ships " ? What of ocean steamers ? 

W. H. Harrison and John Tyler, Presidents, Whigs (1841-1845) 

Pages 244-249. Describe the election of " the Log-Cabin candidate." How long did he 
live ? What is said about Tyler? What about the Dorr Rebellion ? the Webster-Ashburton 
Treaty ? What did Webster say our flag would protect ? Who were the anti-renters ? What 
is said about the telegraph in 1844 ? What was the first message sent by it ? What oceans has 
the telegraph crossed ? What about the telephone ? What about the " wireless telegraph " ? 
Who publicly proved in 1846 that eth»r would control pain ? What republic did we annex in 
1845 ? Why did the South want Texas ? 



lii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

James K. Polk, President, Democrat (1845-1849) 

Pages 250-252. What is said of Oregon? What of Dr. Whitman's journey to Oregon? 
What of his journey to the East, and of his return ? How did we get Oregon territory in 1846 ? 

The Mexican War (1846-1848) 

Pages 252-258. What dispute did Texas have with Mexico ? What caused our war with 
Mexico ? What victories did General Taylor win ? Who took the city of Mexico and so ended 
the war ? What two officers in Scott's army became leading generals, on opposite sides, in 
the Civil War? What territory did Mexico give up to us at the close of the war, in 1848? 
What was the " Gadsden Purchase" of 1853? Describe the discovery of gold in California 
in 1848. What about emigration to California? What about digging gold? What of the 
" Vigilance Committee " ? What results did the discovery of gold have ? Why is California 
a land of gold forever growing ? 

Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, Presidents, Whigs (1849-1S53) 

Pages 258-262. What question in regard to slavery was Congress nov/ called upon to deter- 
mine ? How did the question of slavery extension act on the North and the Soulh ? How did 
the North feel about slavery? How did the South feel? What is said about the " Wilmot 
Proviso " ? What did the extreme southern men say about opening the new territory to 
slavery ? What did the advocates of the " Wilmot Proviso " reply ? What did a third class 
say? What three compromise measures did Clay propose in 1850? Did these measures 
pass ? What results did the new Fugitive-Slave Law have ? What was the " Underground 
Railroad " ? What is said about " Uncle Tom's Cabin " ? What were the forces for slavery 
and those against it doing ? What is said of Charles Sumner and of Jefferson Davis ? 

Franklin Pierce, President, Democrat (1853-1857) 

Pages 262-265. What did the "Crystal Palace" Exhibition of 1853 prove? What four 
remarkable machines were exhibited ? What is said about the reapers, mowers, and har- 
vesters in the West? What did Commodore M. C. Perry do in Japan? 

Pages 265-268. What is said about the famous Missouri Compromise of 1820? Who pro- 
posed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in 1854 ? What did that bill do ? Did it pass ? What new 
political party was formed in 1856 ? Describe the desperate struggle between the North and 
the South for the possession of Kansas. What is said of "Old John Brown"? In the 
end which party won, the " Slave-state men " or the " Free-statemen " ? What happened to 
Senator Charles Sumner? 

James Buchanan, President, Democrat (1857-1861) 

Pages 268-272. What was the Dred Scott case (1857) ? What did the court decide ? What 
effect did this decision have on the North ? What can you say of the panic of 1857 ? What 
caused it ? What was discovered in Nevada and Colorado ? What did E. L. Drake do in 
northwestern Pennsylvania in 1859 ? Compare the total length of the pipe lines with the 
Mississippi? What is said of natural gas? 

Pages 273-279. Describe John Brown's raid, 1859. What happened not long after his exe- 
cution ? Whom did the Republicans elect President in i860 ? What did the people of South 
Carolina think of the election ? What did they do ? By February i, 1861, what had six other 
southern states done ? What name did the seceded states take, what President did they elect, 
and what flag did they hoist ? Why did these states secede ? What kind of a republic did they 
aim to establish? What did the Confederacy seize? What is said of Fort Sumter? What 
did President Buchanan try to do ? What happened ? What is said about the growth of the 
United States between 1789 and 1861 ? Speak of the rapid growth of the West. What sad 
difference was there between 1789 and 1861 ? What had caused this sad difference? What 
had time strengthened ? What must happen with regard to the Union ? In such a war what 
would happen if freedom should triumph ? Why ? 



QUESTIONS liii 



VIII. The Civil War (April, i86i-April, 1865) 

Abraham Lincoln, President, Republican (1861-1865) 

Pages 280-281. At his inauguration what did President Lincoln say about slavery? What 
about the Union ? What about beginning war ? What was then the general feeling in the 
northern states ? 

First Year of the War (April, i86i-April, 1862) 

Pages 281-286. What is said about Major Anderson ? Describe the attack on Fort Sumter. 
What was the result ? What did President Lincoln do the next day ? What is said of the 
rising of the North ? How about the South ? How many more states seceded ? How many did 
this make in all ? Name them. To what city in Virginia was the capital of the Confederacy 
removed ? What is meant by General Butler's " contrabands " ? What three advantages did 
the North have with respect to the war ? What four advantages did the South have ? What 
did General Grant think about the two armies ? In what four ways did the national govern- 
ment raise money for the war ? What is said about national banks ? 

Pages 286-291. Speak of the number and position of the Union and the Confederate 
armies in 1861. Describe the battle of Bull Run. How did "Stonewall" Jackson get his 
name ? What results did the Union defeat have ? What great work did General McClellan 
do ? What were the four points of the Union plan of the war? What is said of the blockade 
by the Union navy? Speak of blockade runners and Confederate vessels of war. What is 
said about the seizure of Mason and Slidell ? What can you say of the Merrimac ? What of 
the Monitor ? 

Pages 292-295. What is said of the war in the West? What Confederate fort did Com- 
modore Foote take ? What important victory did " Unconditional Surrender " Grant win ? 
Why did he get this name ? What is said of the battle of Pittsburg Landing ? What about 
Island Number Ten ? What was the general result of the first year of the war ? 

Second Year of the War (April, 1862-ApRiL, 1S63) 

Pages 295-301. Describe the expedition against New Orleans. After Farragut's victory what 
were the only important fortified points on the Mississippi which were still held by the Con- 
federates? Describe McClellan's advance on Richmond. What is said about the weather? 
Speak of " Stonewall " Jackson's raid, and of Stuart's raid. What were the results of McClel- 
lan's " Seven Days' Battles " around Richmond ? Describe the second battle of Bull Run. 
What move did General Lee make ? What happened at Antietam ? Speak of the battles of 
Fredericksburg and Murfreesboro ? 

Pages 301-302. What did President Lincoln do on New Year's Daj, 1863? Why did he 
issue the Proclamation of Emancipation ? What did the Thirteenth Amendment to the Con- 
stitution of 1865 declare? What has free labor done for ihe South? What was the North 
fighting for before the Proclamation of Emancipation ? What did it fight for afterwards ? 

Third Year of the War (April, i863-ApRiL, 1864) 

Pages 302-309. What is said of the battle of Chancellorsville ? What noted Confederate 
officer was killed ? Describe the great battle of Gettysburg in 1863. What is said of Pickett's 
charge ? Describe the High-Water-Mark Monument. What was the result of the great battle ? 
What can you say about the siege of Vicksburg in 1863 ? On what day did Vicksburg sur- 
render? What place surrendered five days later? What is said of the Mississippi River? 
What about the draft riots ? What about Morgan's raid ? What is said about the battle of 
Chickamauga ? What did the Union soldiers call General Thomas ? Speak of the battles of 
Lookout Mountain and of Missionary Ridge. What did Sherman do at Meridian ? Who was 
now (1864) made general in chief of the Union armies? 

Fourth and Last Year of the War (April, 1864-ApRiL, 1865) 

Pages 310-315. What did Grant and Sherman now decide to do? What was this famous 
campyaign called ? What was the " Wilderness " ? What order did Grant telegraph to Sherman 
from the Wilderness ? Speak of the battles of the " Wilderness." What had Grant vowed ? 



liv LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

Did he turn back ? What did he do ? What is said of Captain Winslow of the Kcarsargc ? 
What two raids did General Early make ? Describe Sheridan's raid in the Shenandoah Valley. 
What is said about the Petersburg mine ? What of Sheridan's ride from Winchester ? 

Pages 315-324. What advance did Sherman make in the West ? Describe his movement on 
Atlanta. What is said about the weather .? Did he take Atlanta ? What did he do to the city .? 
What victory did Admiral Farragut win ? Describe Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea. 
What is said about Hood? What did Thomas do? What message did Sherman send to 
President Lincoln from Savannah ? Describe Sherman's march northward. What announce- 
ment did he make to his army on April 12, 1865 ? What effect did this have on both Union and 
Confederate soldiers ? What did a southern woman say to her children ? Who surrendered 
to Sherman near Raleigh ? 

Pages 324-327. Speak of Sheridan's two raids around Richmond. What place did Grant 
capture on April 2, 1865? What city did he take on April 3? What is said of Jefferson 
Davis? Give an account of Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865. What did General Anderson 
do at Fort Sumter on April 14 ? How many years was it since the Confederates had won 
their first victory in the Civil War? What had the war cost? What terrible crime was com- 
mitted at Washington on the evening of April 14, 1865 ? What is said of President Lincoln ? 
What is said about the North during the war? What about the Sanitary and the Christian 
Commissions ? What is said of the people of the South in the war ? What did General Grant 
say about them ? What effect did the final triumph of the national forces have on the Union ? 

IX. Reconstruction — The New Nation (1865 to the Present Time) 

Andrew Johnson, President, Republican (April, 1865-1869) 

Pages 328-332. What event made Vice President Johnson President? What very diflficult 
work was President Johnson called to undertake ? Give an account of the military review in 
Washington. What is said of the return of the soldiers to their homes ? What effect did 
the war have on secession? What effect on the negro? What is said of General Grant? 
What of General Lee ? What did Lee say to his men ? What proclamation did President 
Johnson issue in May, 1865 ? What action did most of the southern states take ? On what 
question did the President and Congress disagree ? What did Congress do ? What did 
President Johnson do? What effect did the First Reconstruction Act have? What is said 
of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution ? What was the first southern state that 
was readmitted ? How many other states came back ? How many refused to come back and 
remained out until 1870 ? What is said about the negro legislators and the " Carpetbaggers " ? 
What brought their reign to an end ? 

Pages 332-335. What was the Tenure of Office Act? Why did Congress impeach Presi- 
dent Johnson ? What was the result ? What proclamation did the President issue on Christ- 
mas, 1868 ? When was the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution ratified ? What did the 
three amendments do for the negro ? Has the Fifteenth Amendment any real force at the 
South ? Why not ? Describe the laying of the first Atlantic telegraph cable. What great 
territory did we purchase in 1867 ? What results has that purchase had ? What was the 
amount of the great Civil War debt? How long would it take to count it ? How much of it 
have we paid ? How was our national debt increased in 1898 ? How did it stand at the close 
of 1907 ? 

Ulysses S. Grant, President, Republican (1869-1877) 

Pages 336-341. How was communication overland kept up with California from 1S60 to 
1869? What great work was completed in 1869? Can you describe it ? What very important 
result has that railway, with the telegraph, had on the Union ? What effect has that railway, 
with others, had on commerce with Asia ? What effect have they had on the growth of the 
Far West ? What can you say about the national land laws ? What about the Homestead Act 
of 1862 ? What about the National Irrigation Act of 1902 ? What of emigration to the West, 
and growth of cities like Denver ? Give an account of some of the great farms and ranches 
of the Far West. When was the reconstruction of the southern states completed ? Speak of 
the Ku Klux Klan and the " Force Bill." What is said about the negro ? What is said of the 
Weather Bureau ? What about the great fires of 1 871-1872 ? What do our losses by fire now 
average ? What is said of " Boss " Tweed ? 

Pages 341-345. What did the new Coinage Act of 1873 do? Speak of the panic of 1873. 
Describe the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876. What three remarkable novelties 



QUESTIONS Iv 

^ere exhibited there? Give an account of the telephone. What about experiments with 
the wireless telephone ? What is said of progress in the use of electricity ? What of auto- 
mobiles and flying machines ? Mention Commander Read. What may the twentieth century 
be called ? What important treaty did we make in 187 1 ? What was one of its results ? What 
is said about Indian wars in the West ? Give an account of the disputed Presidential election 
of 1876. How was that dangerous dispute settled? 

Rutherford B. Hayes, President, Republican (1877-1881) 

Pages 345-348, Why did President Hayes withdraw the United States troops from the 
South? What was the result? Describe the first great historic labor strike in 1877. What 
important work did Captain Eads complete in 1879 ? What can you say about the restoration 
of " the dollar of our fathers " in 1878 ? What about " greenbacks " in 1879 ? 

James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur, Presidents, Republicans (1881-1885) 

Pages 348-353. What happened to President Garfield in the autumn of 1881 ? Who then 
became President? What law did Congress pass in 1883 ? Why? What about the extension 
of this law ? What advantage does the " merit system " secure ? Speak of the East River 
Suspension Bridge. What other great works of this kind have been completed since ? What 
about cheap postage? Why did Congress pass the Alien Contract Labor Act? What does 
that act prohibit ? Speak of the exportation of cotton and of the Cotton Centennial Exhibi- 
tion. Describe the growth of New Orleans since the Civil War. What is said about the 
" New South " ? Mention some of its " hives of industry." What is said about the supplies 
of cotton, iron, lumber, and coal of the South? What is free labor accomplishing? How 
much cotton did the South produce just before the Civil War? How much now? What is 
said about the prosperity of the negroes ? What about education ? 

Grover Cleveland, President, Democrat (First Term, 1885-1889) 

Pages 353-358. How long had the Republicans been in power when Mr. Cleveland became 
President? What is said of the "Knights of Labor"? What was one of their objects? 
Speak of the " black list " and of the " boycott." What about the " American Federation of 
Labor " ? What about the National Labor Bureau ? What of the Department of Agriculture ? 
What was the year 1886 called? What occurred in Chicago? What is the object of the an- 
archist ? Give some account of great corporations and " trusts." What is a " trust " ? Mention 
some objects for which " trusts " have been formed. What is said about the consolidation 
of railway lines ? What of " department stores " ? What action has the national govern- 
ment recently taken in regard to great railways and " trusts " ? Describe the Statue of 
Liberty. What three important laws did Congress pass in 18S6-1887 ? What was the object 
of the Railway Rate Act of 1906? How many members has the Cabinet now? Can you 
name them ? 

Benjamin Harrison, President, Republican (1889-1893) 

Pages 359-362. What does the name Oklahoma mean? Describe the opening of that 
territory in 1889. When was Oklahoma admitted to the Union? (See page 397.) What is 
said about the new American navy ? What does suffrage mean ? What four western states 
have granted women equal suffrage with men ? What is said about the Pension Act of 
1890 ? What was the Sherman Silver Purchase and Coinage Act? Did silver rise in value ? 
How much was a silver dollar worth by weight in 1890 ? What was it worth a little later? 
What was the main object of the McKinley Protective Tariff ? What is said of the census of 
1890 ? Speak of the Patent Office Centennial celebration. What is said about our labor-saving 
machines ? Where did the second great strike in our history occur ? 

Grover Cleveland, President, Democrat (Second Term, 1893-1897) 

Pages 363-366. Give an account of the Australian or secret ballot. How many states now 
use it ? What anniversary was celebrated by the public schools in October, 1892 ? What ex- 
position was opened the next spring ? What is said about the panic of 1893 ? What did Con- 
gress do about the Sherman Silver Purchase and Coinage Act ? What is saidabout the Bering 



Ivi LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

Sea dispute ? What was the Coxey " Industrial Army " ? Give an account of the third historic 
strike. What is said of the panic of 1894 ? What was the Wilson Tariff ? What is said about 
the growth of the " New West " ? What about the Venezuela question ? How was it settled ? 

William McKinley, President, Republican (1897-1901) 

Pages 366-372. Give some account of the Dingley Protective Tariff. What is said about 
the increase in our exports ? For what does Great Britain depend upon us ? What is said 
about our manufactures of iron, steel, and copper ? What about our exports of these manu- 
factures ? Speak of some noted buildings erected in New York and Washington. What is 
said about " Greater New York " ? What about its high buildings ? its bridges and tunnels ? 
its new aqueduct ? What is said of the rapid growth of our cities ? How many people of the 
United States now live in cities ? What is said about the government of our cities ? What 
seven southern states have adopted new or amended constitutions ? How do these constitu- 
tions affect the negro vote ? What about the Fifteenth Amendment to the national Con- 
stitution ? What is said about the constitution of South Dakota ? of Oregon .? of Oklahoma ? 
What is this new power granted to the people called ? 

Pages 374-374. What is said about the former extent of the possessions of Spain in Amer- 
ica and in the East ? What did Spain hold in America almost as late as the beginning of the 
last century ? What had happened in less than twenty-five years afterward ? What were the 
only important islands Spain had left in the West Indies ? Give an account of the revolution 
in Cuba. What happened to the battle ship Maine in 1898? What did President McKinley 
say in his message to Congress.? What did Congress resolve ? What did Con2;ress demand 
of Spain ? What did Congress say about the government of Cuba ? What about our right to 
act as guardians of the liberty of the Cuban people 1 

The War with Spain, 1898 

Pages 374-382. How many volunteers did the President call for? How much money did 
the national government borrow from the people .? How much money was raised by taxation ? 
What is said about our navy .? Having made all these preparations, what did Congress do 
next .? Describe the battle of Manila. What is said about Cervera's seven battle ships .? Where 
did Commodore Schley discover them } What did he say 1 Describe the land battles near 
Santiago. Give an account of what happened to Cervera's battle ships. What effect did 
Cervera's defeat have on the war.? Meanwhile what occurred at Manila.? How did we come 
into possession of Hawaii.? In what year did we obtain the Samoan Islands.? What is said 
of a number of other small islands in the Pacific .? When was the final treaty of peace with 
Spain signed ? What were the three terms of that treaty? What discussion took place in the 
Senate in regard to ratifying the treaty and taking possession of the Philippines .? What 
action did the Senate finally take ? What were the seven great steps of our national territorial 
expansion from 1803 to i8g8.? How many square miles of territory have we added to the 
United States in less than a century ? , 

Pages 382-385. What is said about the insurrection in the Philippines .? What is said 
about the condition of the islands ? What is said about Cuba.? When we recognized the new 
republic of Cuba, what condition did we insist upon ? What did we do when an insurrection 
broke out in Cuba in 1906 ? What is said of the cost of the war with Spain in money and 
life .? What is said of the effect of the war on the Union and the Confederate veterans .? What 
about the " Red Cross Society" and the women of America.? Speak of the "Trans-Missis- 
sippi Exposition." What can you say about the " Great American Desert " ? What is that 
region called now.? Speak of the Homestead Act and its effects. What about agricultural 
colleges .? What is said about the prosperity of American farmers and planters ? What could 
they have paid out of a single year's profits .? 

Pages 385-392. Speak of the destruction of our forests. What is the total forest area of 
the United States .? What demands are being made upon our forests .? At our present rate 
of use, how long will they probably hold out .? What are the nation and the states doing to 
preserve them and the streams which rise in them ? What is said about the savings banks of 
the United States ? What about the total wealth of the nation ? What about gifts for the 
public good ? What is meant by the " open door" in China.? What about the Hague Peace 
Conference Treaty or Agreement? What very important act did Congress pass in 1900.? 
Speak of the Panama Canal. Why do we need the canal? What is said of the census of 
1900? What of our foreign trade ? What was the Pan-American Exposition ? What terrible 
murder was committed there in the autumn of 1901 ? Who then became President.? 



QUESTIONS Ivii 

Theodore Roosevelt, President, Republican (1901-1905) 

Pages 392-394. Give an account of the great coal strike of 1902. How was it finally settled ? 
What is said about the Pacific telegraph cable ? What message did President Roosevelt 
send to King Edward of England in 1903 ? What is said about that message ? What exposi- 
tion was opened at St. Louis in 1904 .-' What did it commemorate .'' What did the exposition 
at Portland, Oregon, in 1905, celebrate? 

Theodore Roosevelt, President, Republican (1905-1909) 

Pages 394-399. What did President Roosevelt say in his inaugural address about two 
things we should all resolve to do? What did Franklin say about time? How are Amer- 
icans working to save it? How are we trying to save health? Speak of our city parks 
and of our national parks. What are we trying to do about our land, our forests, our coal and 
iron mines, our oil fields, our natural gas, and the streams of our country ? What is the 
national government doing to help farmers ? What meeting of great importance was held 
in Washington in 1908? How are we trying to save men from some of the wear and tear 
of human life ? What are we trying to do about foolish and hasty wars ? On what side has 
the influence of America generally been ? What is said about the arbitration of national 
disputes ? What is said about the children in our pubHc schools ? 

Pages 399-401 . What is said about the way in which Americans meet great disasters ? 
Mention some of these disasters. What is said about the California earthquake and fire? 
What about the panic of 1907 ? What state was admitted in 1907 ? What is the total number of 
states now ? What three important bills did Congress pass ? Describe the cruise of our war 
ships around the world in 1907. What was the result of the Presidential election in November, 
1908 ? What agreement did the Secretary of State make with the Japanese minister in 1908 ? 

William H. Taft, President, Republican (1909-1913) 

Pages 402-407, What remarkable geographical discovery was made in 1909 ? What is said 
of the Tariff of 1909? What about the census of 1910? Speak of the national food supply; 
national wealth. What is said about electric railways ? What about automobiles ? What 
about the Panama Canal ? Give some account of the Peace Movement. What is said about 
preparation for future wars? What did the Japanese ambassador think about such contests? 
What two states were admitted in 1912? How many states have we now? What is said 
about our flag ? What was the result of the Presidential election of 1912 ? What is said about 
the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution? What about the Parcel Post? 

WooDROw Wilson, President, Democrat (1913- ) 

Pages 408-421. Give an account of the Celebration at Gettysburg in July, 191 3. What is 
said about the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution ? What is said of the new Tariff 
of 1913? What about the Income Tax? What is said about the new system of Banks? 
What about Colonel George W. Goethals and the Panama Canal? What about the civil 
war in Mexico? On what occasion did President Wilson issue a proclamation of neutrality? 
What is said of the opening of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco 
in 1915? What is said of the transcontinental telephone? Speak of our relations with 
Mexico in 1916. W^hat was the result of the Presidential election in 1916? What islands 
did we buy in 1917 ? What is said about America and the Great War? What is said about 
the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution (see page 225) ? 

What does the Generil Summary (pages 420-421) say about the growth of the United 
Sates in popjlation an! area? What great advantages do the American people enjoy? 
Describe the proposed Arch of the Republic. What does America mean ? What question 
should every American ask himself ? 



TOPICAL ANALYSIS FOR THE BLACKBOARD 

\The figures refer to the numbered sections^ 

Note. The most important dates are uninclosed ; those given in parentheses are inserted 
simply to enable the pupil to follow the general chronological order of events. 

The Discovery and Naming of America (1000-1522) 





2. 


Who were they ? 




2. 


Iceland. 


The Northmen 


2. 


Greenland. 


(TOGO) 


2. 


" Leif the Lucky," 




2. 


Vinland (1000). 



L 3. Results of the discovery of America by the Northmen. 



Geographical 
knowledge 



Ideas about the earth when Columbus was bom. 
The " Sea of Darkness." 



Columbus, 1492 



Birth of Columbus. 

He probably never heard of Vinland. 

What he wished to do. 

Marco Polo's book. 

First reason why Columbus wished to go to the Indies. 

His second reason for wishing to go there. 

Trade with the Indies, (Genoa ; Venice.) 

Portuguese voyages ; Results. 

Plan of Columbus. (How far right, how far wrong.) 

He seeks assistance. 

He sails, 1492, Vessels ; Canary Islands ; equipment for the 

voyage. 
Incidents of the voyage. (Compass ; crew ; birds,) 
Land ! 1492. (The West Indies ; the Indians.) 
Return. Letter of Columbus ; division of the world. 
Disappointment of Spain. (Columbus in chains.) 
Death of Columbus. What he had accomplished. 



The Cabots, 1497 



\ what they discovered in 1497. 



14. John and 

14. Sebastian 

14. Henry VI I 's notebook. 

14. England's claim to America. 



Origin of the C 15. Amerigo Vespucci. 

name " Amex- -^ 15. What happened in 1507. 

ica," 1507 L IS- Did Amerigo Vespucci deserve the honor he received? 

Iviii 



TOPICAL ANALYSIS 



lix 



Discoveries 
concerning 
America 



i6. What people thought of America. 

i6. What Magellan discovered about America (15 19-1522). 

16, How Europe felt about his discovery. 

17. Summary of the section. 



Attempts at Exploring and Colonizing America 



Ponce de Leon 
Balboa 



( 1 509-1600) 

Discovers and names Florida (15 13). 

Discovers the "South Sea" (1513). (Cortez proposes a canal 
across the Isthmus of Panama (15 19).) 



French 
explorations 



< 20. The King of France ; Cartier on the St. Lawrence (1535). 

New attempts of J 21. De Soto's expedition (1539). 
the Spaniards 1 22. Coronado's expedition (1540' 



The French 
(Huguenots) and 
the Spaniards 

English explo- 
rations and 
attempts at 
settlement, 1585 



America and 
the Indians 



Effects of the 
discovery of 
America on 
Europe 



[540) 

r 23. The Huguenots (1562). 
J 23. Menendez; St, Augustine (1565). 

I 24. De Gourgues. (Results of the struggle between the French and 
1^ the Spaniards.) 

(2^. Frobisher; Davis. 

25. Sir Humphrey Gilbert; Drake (1577-1580). 

26. Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition (1584). 

27. Raleigh's first colony, 1585. (The new " root" ; the new weed.) 

28. Raleigh's second colony (1587). 

29. Results of the Spanish, French, and EngHsh attempts up to 1600. 

30. What America was found to be ; physical geography. (Climate, 

soil, crops ; healthfulness ; superiority to Europe ; natural 
wealth ; what Gladstone said.) 

31. The Indian population. 

32. Personal appearance of the Indians. (The scalp lock.) 
;^^. How they lived. 

34. Their work. (The moccasin ; the snowshoe ; the birch-bark canoe.) 

35. Government of tribes ; "wampum." 

36. Social condition ; customs ; " totems." 
^7. Religion ; character. 

38. Self-control ; torture ; respect for courage. (General Stark.) 

39. The Indian and the white man ; what the Indian taught the 

white man. 

40. Influence of the Indians on the early history of the country. 

(The Iroquois; the Indian wars.) 

41. (i) Geographical knowledge. 

41. (2) Spain, Portugal, France, and England. 

41. (3) The precious metals. 

41. (4) Trade and navigation. 

41. (5) New products. 

41. (6) Sugar, cotton, rice, coffee. 

41, (7) Effects on men's minds. Opportunity. 

42. Summary of the section. Spaniards, French, English ; America 

in 1600. 



Effects of the geography of America on its history. See text and map, pages 42, 43. 



Ix 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



The English 

and the French 

establish 

permanent 

colonies. 

I. Virginia, 

1607 



II. New 
Netherland, or 
New York 
(1 61 4). Settled 
by Dutch 



III. New 
Jersey (1617) 



IV. Massachu- 
setts (Plym- 
outh Colony, 
1620) 



Permanent English and French Settlements (1607-1763) 

'43. Opening of the 17th century ; the desire of the EngHsh to go to 
Virginia. 
43. England's need of America ; the King grants a charter to settle 
Virginia, 

43. The London Company ; the Plymouth Company. 

44. Articles of the charter ; instructions. 

45. The London Company's colony sails; Captain John Smith, 

46. Jamestown, 1607 ; condition of the colonists, 

47. Sufferings of the colonists; their search for the Pacific; Pocahontas. 

48. Gold? The French in Canada; Smith becomes governor; the 
colonists resolve to abandon Jamestown, 

49. Lord Delaware ; Governor Dale ; the great land reform, (" This 
is miner') 

50. Cultivation of tobacco (1612), Four effects, 

51. Virginia becomes practically self-governing, 1619, The House of 
Burgesses ; wives, 

52. Negro slaves, 1619 ; white "apprentices," 

52, What settlements were made at the North, 

53, Virginia loses her charter ; Governor Berkeley ; Puritans and 
Cavaliers. 

54, Berkeley restored to power ; the Navigation Laws ; the King 
gives away Virginia, Other English colonies, 

55, Condition of the Virginia colonists ; the Indian war; the Bacon 
rebellion, 1676 ; Results. 

^ 56. Summary of the Virginia colony. 

' 57. Henry Hudson (1609). 

58, The Indians. 

59, The Dutch take possession of New Netherland (1614); the 
English and the French. 

60, The Dutch purchase Manhattan Island, 1626. 

61, The Patroons ; Van Rensselaer. 

62, Peter Stuyvesant ; New Amsterdam. The English claim the 
country; they seize it (1664). 

^ 63. Summary of New Netherland, or New York. 

' 64. Dutch claim ; EngHsh claim. 

64. English get possession. Name New Jersey. 

65, The Friends, or Quakers, Treaty with the Indians; government 
of the colony. 

1^ 66. Summary of New Jersey, 

' 67. Lack of religious liberty in England. Catholics, Puritans, Sepa- 
ratists. 

68. Emigration ; the Separatists, or Pilgrims, go to Holland (1607). 

69. Why the Separatists, or Pilgrims, resolved to leave Holland for 
America, 

70. Where they intended to settle ; how they got assistance. 

71. The Pilgrims sail in the Mayflower; Myles Standish. 

72. Cape Cod ; the Compact, 

73. Exploring the coast; Plymouth Rock, 1620, The first winter. 

74. Governor Bradford; Town meeting; treaty with the Indians. 

75. The Pilgrims buy out the English Company, Growth of the 
colony; what made the Pilgrims great. 



TOPICAL ANALYSIS 



Ixi 





76. 




n- 




78. 




79- 


IV. Massachu- 
setts (Massa- 
chusetts Bay 
Colony, 1630) 


80. 

81. 

82. 
S3. 




84. 
85. 
86. 
87. 
88. 
L. 89. 


V. New Hamp- 
shire (1623) 


' 90. 
91. 

92. 




. 93- 


VI. Connecticut 

(1634) 


r 94- 

95- 
96. 

97- 
98. 




. 99- 




100. 

lOI. 

102. 


VII. Maryland 

(1634) 


103. 
104. 




105. 




L 106. 




r 107. 


VIII. Rhode 
Island (1636) 


108. 

109. 

L 110. 



Salem ; Governor Endicott ; religious toleration, cutting the 

cross out of the English flag. 
Governor Winthrop ; Boston, 1630. Great Puritan emigration to 

New England. 
Government of Massachusetts ; town meetings ; who could vote ; 

occupations of the people. 
Banishment of Roger Williams; of Mrs. Hutchinson ; Williams 

and Massasoit. 
The Boston Free Latin School (1635) ; Harvard University, 

1636 ; Rev. John Eliot ; first Printing Press, 1639. Common- 
school system founded, 1647. 
The New England Confederation, 1643 ; object ; Results. 
The coming of the Friends, or Quakers. 
Why it excited alarm ; what the Friends believed, what they 

refused to do. 
Effect of persecution on the Friends. 
What the Puritans of Massachusetts did to the Quakers. 
King Philip's War, 1675. Eliot's Indians ; Result of the war. 
The Salem witchcraft. 

Massachusetts loses her charter; Andros ; the new charter. 
Summary of Plymouth and of Massachusetts Bay colonies. 

Grant to Gorges and Mason ; first settlements. 

Division of the territory; New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine; 

Exeter. 
Londonderry; union of New Hampshire with Massachusetts. 

Voting ; New Hampshire a royal province. 
Summary of New Hampshire. 

Emigration to the valley of the Connecticut ; Hooker's colony. 
The Pequot War. 

The Connecticut constitution, 1639. Of what it was the parent. 
The New Haven colony ; Scripture laws. 

The Regicides ; Davenport's sermon ; Andros and the Connect- 
icut charter. 
Summary of Connecticut. 

The Catholic Pilgrims ; Lord Baltimore ; Maryland. 

St. Marys ; the wigwam church (1634). 

Government of the colony ; religious freedom ; the Toleration 

Act, 1649. 
Clayborne and Ingle; what the English commissioners did; 

how the Assembly or Legislature treated Lord Baltimore. 
Lord Baltimore restored to his rights ; Maryland loses her 

charter. 
Establishment of the Church of England ; Maryland restored 

to Lord Baltimore; Mason and Dixon's line (1763-1767). 
, Summary of Maryland. 

, Roger Williams; Providence; the first Baptist church in 

America (1639). 
. Liberty of conscience, 1636. The Constitution of the United 

States. 
. Settlement of the island of Rhode Island ; the charter ; Rhode 

Island and the Revolution. 
. Summary of Rhode Island. 



Ixii 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



IX. New 
Sweden, or Del- 
aware (1638) 



X, XI. Caro- 
lina (1663) 



111. The Swedes plant a colony ; the Dutch seize it. 

112. The English take the country. William Penn ; the "Terri- 

tories " ; Delaware the first state to ratify the national Consti- 
tution (1787). 

113. Summary of Delaware. 

1 14. Grant of Carolina ; first settlements. 

115. Charleston; the Huguenots. 

116. The " Grand Model" ; division of the territory into North and 

South Carolina (17 12). 

117. Growth of the two colonies; rice; indigo; Charleston shortly 

before the Revolution. 

118. Summary of Carolina. 



XII. Pennsyl- 
vania (1 681) 



119. William Penn; Pennsylvania; the "Holy Experiment." 

120. The first emigrants ; Penn at Newcastle ; Philadelphia (1682). 

121. The "Great Law" (1682). 

122. The treaty with the Indians (1682) ; importance of Philadelphia. 
^ 123. Summary of Pennsylvania. 



XIII. Georgia 

(1733) 



The French in 
the West and 
the South 

(1669-1 7 18) 



124. Ogletkorpe. His three objects in establishing the colony of 

Georgia. 

125. Savannah ; silk culture. 

126. Four restrictions on the colony. Results. 

127. The Wesleys; Whitefield ; removal of most of the restrictions; 

the Spaniards ; Georgia (1752) ; natural resources of Georgia. 
^ 128. Summary of Georgia. 

129. French exploration of the West (1669) ; the Catholic mission- 

aries. 

130. Joliet and Marquette on the Mississippi (1673). 

131. La Salle's expedition (1679-1682). The forts; Louisiana (1682). 

132. Mobile; New Orleans (1718). 

133. What the English held in America; what the French held. 



The wars of the 
English with 
the French 
and their 
Indian allies 
(1689-1763) 



134. War with the French and Indians; (i) "King William's War" 

(1689). Schenectady; Haverhill; Acadia. 
134. (2) "Queen Anne's War" (1702). Deerfield ; Annapolis; Nova 

Scotia. 
135' (3) "King George's War" (1744); capture of Louisburg. 

Results. 

136. (4) The " French and Indian War" (1754) ; the French forts. 

137. The Ohio Company; action of the French; Governor Din- 

widdle's messenger; the name cut on Natural Bridge. 

138. Results of Washington's journey. 

139. The Albany Convention (1754) ; Franklin's snake. 

140. Braddock's defeat (1755) ; Washington. 

141. Acadian exiles; Pitt and victory; Louisburg; Fort Duquesne ; 

the French driven back to Canada. 

142. Fall of Quebec (1759) ; Pontiac's conspiracy. 

143. What the war settled. France and the West (1759) ; Treaty of 

1763 ; what America was to become ; Spain ; the English flag 
at the end of 1763. 

144. Four Results of the four great wars between the English and 

the French with their Indian allies (1689-1763). 



TOPICAL ANALYSIS 



Ixiii 



General state of 
the country in 
1763 



C 145. The thirteen colonies in 1763. "Making roots." The popula- 
tion ; the country west of the Alleghenies. 

146. Language, religion, social' rank ; cities ; newspapers ; trade ; 

manufactures ; Navigation Laws ; bounties. 

147. Government of the colonies; law. "Don't tread on me." 
* Unity of the people. 

148. Farm life. (The houses ; the fires ; food ; the store ; recreation.) 

149. City life ; the Southern Plantations. Dress ; life then and life now. 

150. Travel ; the " Flying Machine " ; letters ; hospitality ; severe laws. 

151. Education; books; Edwards; Franklin. 

152. Franklin's " key to the clouds " ; what he said about electricity. 
L 153. General summary of the colonial period. 



The Rf.volution ; the Constitution (1763-1789) 



The Revolution. 
(I. The colonists 
resist taxation 
without repre- 
sentation, 
1764-1775) 



The Revolution. 
(2. From the be- 
ginning of the 
war, 1775, to 
the Declaration 
of Independence, 
1776) 



The Revolution. 

(3. The War of 
Independence, 
from 1776 to 

1777) 



154. American commerce; the new King. What he was and what 
he did. " Writs of Assistance " ; James Otis. 

155. The King proposes to levy a direct tax on the colonies ; object 
of tax ; protest of the Americans. Pitt and Burke. 

[56. The Stamp Act proposed. 

[57. The Act passed, 1765; Patrick Henry; the Virginia Assembly; 
the Stamp Act Congress ; destruction of the stamps, 

158. Repeal of the Stamp Act; the Declaratory Act; the Boston 
Massacre ; the Gaspee. 

159. The new taxes (1767) ; their object; the colonists refuse taxed 
tea ; the " Boston Tea Party," 1773. 

160. Parliament closes the port of Boston. General Gage; Patrick 
Henry, — "We must 7f^/^^'." "Committees of Correspond- 
ence " ; the First Continental Congress, 1774, The three things 
that Congress did ; Massachusetts ; John Hancock ; volun- 

l teers ; " minutemen " ; the spirit of liberty ; the Tories. 

r 161. Paul Revere; Lexington; Concord, 1775. "Yankee Doodle"; 
the siege of Boston. 

162. The Second Continental Congress, 1775; the three things it 

did. Ethan Allen. Ticonderoga, Crown Point. 

163. Bunker Hill, 1775. Franklin's letter. 

164. Washington takes command of the American army (1775) ! the 

attack on Canada. 

165. Washington enters Boston ; Fort Sullivan, or Fort Moultrie. 

166. The idea of Independence ; " Common Sense." The Hessians. 

167. The Declaration of Independence, 1776. The Liberty Bell; the 

King's statue. The new nation. 

168. Summary. 

169. What the British hoped to do in New York; the American 

navy; privateers. 

170. Washington at New York; Fort Washington; Fort Lee. 

171. The two armies ; the battle of Long Island. 

172. Washington retreats northward; Nathan Hale; Fort Washing- 

ton ; the false-hearted Lee. 

173. Fort Lee taken; Washington retreats southward, and crosses 

the Delaware. General Lee captured. 

174. How Washington spent Christmas night (1776) at Trenton. 



Ixiv 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



The Revolution, 
(j. The War of 
Ittdependence, 
from lyjb to 1777) 
— Continued 



175. How Robert Morris spent New Year's morning (1777) at 

Philadelphia. 

176. Cornwallis outwitted; Princeton; Morristown. Lafayette; De 

Kalb ; Steuben. 

177. Burgoyne's expedition; Herkimer at Oriskany ; Stark at 

Bennington. 

178. Howe's expedition to Pennsylvania; Brandywine ; the British 

enter Philadelphia ; Germantown ; Valley Forge. 

179. The Turning Point in the Revolution, at Saratoga, 1777 ; " Stars 

and Stripes " ; Results of victory ; Franklin and Washington. 

180. Summary. 



The Revolution. 
(4. The War of 
Independence, 
from 1777 to 
1781) 



181. The winter at Valley Forge ; England's offer (1778). 

182. Monmouth; Lee; Indian massacres; Clark's victories in the 

West. 

183. The war in the South ; Savannah ; Wayne's victory; Paul Jones. 

184. Charleston ; Marion and Sumter. 

185. Our defeat at Camden. 

185. Our victory at King's Mountain. 

186. Arnold's treason (1780). 

186. The terrible winter at Morristown. 

187. General Greene (1781); Cowpens ; Greene's retreat; Mrs. 

Steele; Guilford Court House; Cornwallis. 

188. Greene's victories in South Carolina; Washington and Greene. 

189. The Crowning Victory of the War, 1781. Lafayette; Wash- 

ington's plan ; Robert Morris again ; the siege of Yorktown ; 
" The World 's Upside Down " ; Lord North. 

190. Summary of the Revolution. 



After the 
Revolution 

(1783-1787) 



193- 



194. 
195. 



George I IPs speech ; the Treaty of Peace, 1783. John Adams. 
Condition of the United States ; the Articles of Confederation 

of 1781 ; what they accomplished. 
Distress of the country. (Debt; paper money ; quarrels of the 

states ; no freedom of trade.) 
" Shays' Rebellion." 
The Northwest Territory. The Ordinance of 1787 ; how the 

Northwest Territory helped to keep the Union together. 



The formation 
and adoption of 
the Constitution, 
I 787-1 789 



r 196. 



197. 



The Convention of 1787; the Articles of Confederation are set 
aside ; the Constitution ; the three Compromises, 1787. • 

" We the people " ; Alexander Hamilton ; the " Ship of State." 

Six things accomplished by the Constitution ; the " Bill of 
Rights " ; later Amendments. 

Summary. (What John Adams said.) 



The Union; National Development (1789-1861) 



The Federalist 
party in power 

(1789-1801) 



( Washington. See page 118 {and Jtote), also sections on the Revolution.) 

199. Federalists and Anti-Federalists ; election of the first President 

(1788) ; the national capital ; inauguration of Washington, 1789. 

200. Washington's cabinet ; how the government raised money, 1789. 

201. Payment of three great debts. Hamilton. 



TOPICAL ANALYSIS 



Ixv 



The Fcderalaiist 
party in po^vcr 
(i78g-/8o/). 
— Coittimied 



Washington's 
administration. 
(Two terms, 
1789-T797) 



203. 



204. 



The first census, 1790 ; the " Federal Ratio '" ; the first United 

States Bank, 1791 ; the Mint; Decimal Coinage. 
Rise of regular Political Parties, 1792 ; " Citizen " Genet ; \\ ash- 

ington's Proclamation of Neutrality, 1793. 
Emigration to the West. Boone; Marietta; Cincinnati (1790). 

The first western newspaper (1793). War with the Indians 

and results. 

205. The manufacture of cotton; the Cotton Gin, 1793, and its four 

Results. 

206. The Whisky Rebellion ; treaty with Spain. 

207. Jay's Treaty, 1795 ; newspapers attack Washington ; three new 

states. 

208. Summary of Washington's presidency. 



II 

John Adams' 
administration. 
(One term, 
1797-1801) 



III 

The Demo- 
cratic-Repub- 
lican or Demo- 
cratic party in 
power (1801- 
1841) 

Jefferson's 
administration. 
(Two terms, 
1801-1809) 



IV 

Madison's 
administration. 
(Two terms, 
1809-1817) 



{Sketch of John Adams. See note /, /. 18S.) 

209. Trouble with France ; the " X. Y. Z. Papers." Pinckney's de- 

fiant words ; war; " Hail Columbia." 

210. The Alien and the Sedition Laws; the Kentucky and the Vir- 

ginia Resolutions (i 798-1 799) ; Death of Washington. 
I. 21 1. Summary of John Adams' presidency. 

{Jefferson. See note 2^p. iqi.) 

212. Republican simplicity; the new national capitol; Jefferson's 

appointments to office. 

213. Probable extent of the republic. Means of travel. 

214. The pirates of Tripoli; "If you make yourself a sheep, the 

wolves will eat you " ; war, the Navy ; Results. 

215. Purchase of Louisiana, 1803; four Results. 

216. Lewis and Clark. Oregon ; John Jacob Astor. 

217. War between France and England; the Leopard and the 

Chesapeake (1807). 
The Embargo (1807) ; the Non-Intercourse Act (1809). 
Aaron Burr. 

" Fulton's Folly," 1807. Western steamboats ; the Savannah, 
1819; first regular line of ocean steamers (1840). 
221. Importation of slaves forbidden, 1808. Jefferson and slavery. 
^ 222. Summary of Jefferson's presidency. 



21S. 
219. 
220. 



{Madison. See note i, p. iqq.) 

223. Trade reopened with Great Britain. 

224. How Napoleon deceived us. 

225. Tecumseh's conspiracy ; Tippecanoe (iSit). 

226. The Henry Letters ; the real, final cause of the War of 1812. 

227. General Hull; Detroit. 

228. The English navy compared with the American ; the Constitu- 

tion and the Gnerri'ere. , 

229. Perry's victory. His dispatch to General Harrison. 

230. General Jackson and the Indians; Tohopeka. Result. 

231. Chippewa; Lundy's Lane; burning of Washington. 

232. Macdonough's victory ; Fort McHenry. The " Star-Spangled 

Banner." 

233. Jackson at New Orleans (1815) ; end of the war; the Hartford 

Convention ; the treaty of peace. 

234. Four Chief Results of the War of 1812. 

235. Summary of Madison's presidency. 



Ixvi 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HI^IORY 



V 

Monroe's 
administration. 
(Two terms, 
1817-1825) 



{Monroe. Sec p. 2og and note /.) 

236. The President's inauguration. 

237. His journey ; the " Era of Good Feeling." 

238. First Seminole War ; purchase of Florida, 1819. 

239. Question of the western extension of slavery; what Jefferson 

said. 
Change of feeling about Slavery ; the North and the South ; 

effect of the Cotton Gin. 
How Slavery divided the country in regard to trade with 

Europe ; slavery and the tariff. 
242. Why the North opposed the extension of Slavery west^of the 

Mississippi; why the South demanded it. 
The great Missouri Compromise, 1820. 
245. Desire to reach the West; the "National Road" (1811- 

1S30). Henry Clay; traffic over the Road. Emigrants going 

west. 
The Monroe Doctrine. " America for Americans," 1823. 
Visit of Lafayette ; what Congress did ; his statue in Paris. 
Summary of Monroe's presidency. 



240. 



241. 



243 
244 



246 
247 
248 



VI 

John Quincy 
Adams' 

administration. 
(One term, 
1825-1829) 



(Jo/in Qicincy Admns. See note i^ f. 2/q.) 

249-251. The Erie Canal, 1825 ; Results ; enlargement of the canal. 

252-255. "Steam Wagons"; the first American locomotive, 1830 ; the 

race ; Railways and their Results. 
256, 257. The Temperance cause; the Prohibition Amendment. 
L 258. Summary of John Quincy Adams' presidency. 



The New 
Democracy 

VII 

Jackson's 
administration. 
(Two terms, 
1829-1837) 



(Jackson. See p. 22b and note 2^ 

259,260,261. "The People's President"; Jackson's character; re- 
moval of government officers. Jefferson's rule ; the " Spoils 
System." 

262-264. Garrison; Channing ; the Anti-Slavery movement ; John 
Quincy Adams. 

265. Jackson and the second United States Bank, 1832. 

266. South Carolina resists the duty on imported goods. 

267-269. Calhoun ; nullification, 1832. Webster ; Jackson's course 
of action ; Henry Clay's compromise tariff (1833). 

270. Growth of the country ; railways ; steamboats ; canals ; coal ; 

the Express system (1839). 

271. Indian wars; the West; Chicago (1S33). 

272. American art, books, and newspapers. 

273. Henry Clay and the Whigs. 

274. Summary of Jackson's presidency. 



VIII 
Van Buren's 
administration. 
(One Term, 
1837-1841) 



{Van Buren. See note i, p. 23g.) 

275, 276. Business failure and panic, 1837. Three chief causes. 

277. The Independent Treasury and the subtreasuries. 

278,279. The Mormons; Nauvoo ; Utah; Irrigation. 

280. Emigration to the United States ; restrictions on immigration ; 

" Come in ! " " Keep out ! " Ocean steamships and American 

"clipper ships" (1840). 
L 281. Summary of Van Buren's presidency. 



TOPICAL ANALYSIS 



Ixvii 



IX, X 

A new party, 
the Whigs, in 
power 

{1841-1845) 

Harrison and 
Tyler's admin- 
istrations. . 
(One term, 
1841-1845) 

XI 

The Democrats 
again in power 

(1845-1849) 

Polk's 

administration. 
(One term, 
1845-1849) 



{Harrison and Tyler. See note r, p, 244, and notes i, 2, attd 3,p. 243.) 
2S2. Election of Harrison ; " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " ; Harrison's 
death ; Tyler and the Whig Congress. 

283. The Dorr Rebellion ; The Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842) ; 

Anti-renters. 

284. The Electric Telegraph, 1844 ; Wireless Telegraphy. Dr. Mor- 

ton's Discovery, 1846. 
2S5. Annexation of Texas, 1845. 
286. Summary of Harrison and Tyler's presidencies. 



{Polk. See note I, p. 230.) 

287-289. The Oregon question ; Dr. Whitman ; " Fifty-four-forty, 
or fight!" Treaty with England (1846). 

290-294. The Mexican War ; Palo Alto ; Resaca de la Palma ; Declara- 
tion of War, 1846. Monterey ; Buena Vista ; California ; New 
Mexico; General Scott; Vera Cruz; Cerro Gordo; the City 
of Mexico ; Results of the war ; the " Gadsden Purchase." 

295, 296. Discovery of Gold in California, 1848. Emigration; Vigi- 
lance Committee ; Results of the discovery of gold. 

297. Summary of Polk's presidency. 



XII, XIII 
The Whigs again 
in power 

(1849-1853) 

Taylor and 
Fillmore's ad- 
ministrations. 
(One term, 
1849-1853) 



( Taylor and Fillmore. See note i, f. 2j8.) 



298. 



299. 



300. 



301. 
L 302. 



The question of the extension of Slavery. The North and the 

South. 
The Wilmot Proviso. Three methods of settlement of the 

Slavery-extension question proposed ; danger of disunion ; 

Clay's Compromise Measures of 1850; a new Fugitive-Slave 

Law proposed. 
Passage of the Fugitive-Slave Law ; Results ; Seward's " Higher 

Law " ; the " Underground Railroad." 
" Uncle Tom's Cabin " ; Charles Sumner and Jefferson Davis. 
Summaiy of Taylor and Fillmore's presidencies. 



XIV 
The Democrats 
again in power 

(1853-1861) 

Pierce's 
administration. 
(One term, 
1853-1857) 



{Pierce. See note /,/>. 262.) 

303. The World's Fair (1853) ; four American labor-saving machines. 

304. Commodore Perry and Japan. 

305. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854. Stephen A. Douglas. Rise of 

the modern Republican party (1856). 
306-308. The struggle for the possession of Kansas ; rival govern- 
ments ; civil war in Kansas ; attack on Lawrence ; John 
Brown ; assault on Sumner. 
L 309. Summary of Pierce's presidency. 



XV 
Buchanan's 
administration. 
(One term, 
1857-1861) 



{Bnchanan. See note /, /. 2bB!) 

310, 311. The Dred Scott Case; decision of the Supreme Court, 
1857 ; Results. 

312. Business panic (1857). Causes. 

313. Discovery of Silver and Petroleum (1859) ; pipe lines ; Standard 

Oil Company ; natural gas. 

314. John Brown's raid into Virginia (1859). 



Ixviii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Buchanan's 
administration 
— Continued 



315. Abraham Lincoln elected President; secession of South Caro- 

lina, i860, 

316. Secession of six other states; formation of the "Confederate 

States of America." 

317. Why the South seceded; seizure of national property; the 

Star of the West. 

318. General summary from Washington to Buchanan: i. Popula- 

tion; 2. Wealth ; 3. Territorial growth ; 4. Cities, railways, and 
telegraph ; growth of the West. 5. Disunion : its cause ; what 
must be done ; Slavery vs. Freedom ; what the triumph of 
Freedom would mean. 



{First year of the 
war, 1 861-1862) 



The Civil War (April, 1861, to April, 1865) 

{Lincoln. See 7iote 2, p. 273,' and note 2, p. 280.) 

319. Lincoln's arrival at Washington ; Inaugural address : Slavery; 
the Union. Feeling at the North. 

320. Major Anderson ; Fort Sumter; the Civil War begins, 1861. 

321. President Lincoln's call for volunteers; Results: North vs. 
South. 

322. Secession of four more states ; General Butler's " Contrabands." 

323. Condition of the North and the South. The three advantages 
of the North ; the four of the South ; what General Grant 
thought. 

324. Four ways of raising money to carry on the War for the Union ; 
National Banks. 

325. Number and position of the two armies. 
326-327. Battle of Bull Run ; Results. 



{Second year of the 
war, 1 862- 1 863) 

XVI 

A new party, 
the Republicans, 
in power 

(1861-1885) 

Lincoln's 
administration. 
(One term and 
part of second, 
1861-1865) 

( Th:r^ year of the 
war, 1863-1864) 



Union plan of the War. 

Blockade runners ; Confederate war vessels ; Mason and Slidell. 

The Mcrrimac ; the Motiitor. 

The war in the West; Fort Henry; Grant and Fort Donelson. 

Pittsburg Landing ; Island Number Ten. 

333. Summary of the first year of the war (April, 1861, to April, 1862). 

334. Second year of the war ; Expedition against New Orleans. 
Bombardment of the forts ; Farragut captures New Orleans. 
The war in Virginia ; McClellan's advance on Richmond ; the 

Peninsular Campaign ; the weather. 
" Stonewall " Jackson's raid ; Stuart ; Results of the Peninsular 

Campaign. 
Second battle of Bull Run ; Lee's advance across the Potomac ; 

Antietam. 
Battles of Fredericksburg and Murfreesboro. 
Proclamation of Emancipation, 1863 ; Results. The Thirteenth 

Amendment. 
Summary of the second year of the war (April, 1862, to April, 

1863). 
Third year of the war ; Chancellorsville, 

343. Gettysburg (Pickett's charge), 1863. 

344. Vicksburg ("Rally round the flag, boys"), Port Hudson, 1863. 

345. Draft riots; Morgan's raid ; Chickamauga; Siege of Chattanooga. 

346. Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge; Meridian; Grant 

made General in Chief. 

347. Summary of the third year of the war (April, 1863, to April, 1864). 



328. 
329- 
330. 

332. 



335- 
336. 

337. 

338. 

339- 
340. 

341- 
342. 



TOPICAL ANALYSIS 



Ixix 



LivxoMs 
administration 
— Continued 

{Fourth year of the 
wa-, 1864-1865) 



348. Fourth and last year of the war ; Grant and Sherman plan the 
" Hammering Campaign" (Spring of 1864). 
The battles of the Wilderness ; Petersburg. 
Captain Winslow sinks the Alabama; Early's raid. 
Sheridan's raid in the Shenandoah valley. 
The Petersburg mine ; Sheridan's ride. 
The war in the West ; Sherman's advance to Atlanta. 
Sherman takes Atlanta; Farragut enters Mobile bay. 
Sherman's March from Atlanta to the Sea. 

356. Thomas destroys Hood's army. 

357. Sherman takes Savannah; his Christmas gift to the President; 

his advance northward. 
The End of the War ; Anderson hoists the old flag over Sumter; 

what the War cost; the President assassinated. 
The North and the South in the War; the Sanitary and the 

Christian Commissions ; what Grant said of the Southern 

people. 
Summary of the fourth and last year of the war (April, 1864, to 

April, 1865). 



349 
350 
351 
352 
353 
354 
355 



358. 



359- 



360. 



Reconstruction; the New Nation (1865 to the Present Time) 



XVII 

Johnson's 
administration. 
(Part of one 
term, 1865-1869) 



the Grand Review ; disbanding the 



{Johnson. See note 2, /. 328.) 
361. Task of Reconstruction 
armies. 
The Three Things the War settled. 
The President's proclamation of pardon ; Contest between the 

President and Congress. 
Congress begins the Reconstruction of the Southern States, 
1867. The Fourteenth Amendment. 
365. Six states readmitted ; negro legislators and " carpetbaggers." 
Congress impeaches the President ; the President's proclamation 
of full and unconditional pardon ; the Fifteenth Amendment ; 
summary of the last three amendments to the Constitution. 
The Atlantic Telegraph Cable (1866). 
368. Purchase of Alaska, 1867 ; Reduction of the National Debt, 
i^ 369. Summary of Johnson's presidency. 



362. 
363. 

364- 



366. 



367. 



XVIII 

Grant's 

administration. 
(Two terms, 
1869-1877) 



{Grant. See note 2, /. 2Q2, section on the Civil War, and note /, 
/. 33(}.) 

370-371. The Pacific Railway; what Railways and Telegraphs have 
done for the Union ; effect of the Pacific Railway on com- 
merce with Asia and on the growth of the Far West ; liberal 
land laws ; the Homestead Act and effects ; Western cities 
and farms. 
Completion of Reconstruction (1870); the "Force Bill"; the 

negro ; the Weather Bureau ; great fires ; " Boss " Tweed. 
The new Coinage Act (1873) ; the Business Panic (1873) ; the 
Centennial Exhibition (1876) ; the Electric Light; the Tele- 
phone ; Automobiles and Flying Machines ; Read's Flight. 

374. Treaty with Great Britain (1871) ; the Alabama; Indian wars. 

375. The Disputed Presidential Election (1876). 

376. Summary of Grant's presidency. 



372. 



373- 



Ixx 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



XIX 

Hayes' 

administration. 
(One term, 
1877-1881) 



{Hayes. See note 2, /. 345^ 

377. Withdrawal of troops from the South ; first Historic Labor 
Strike (1877). 
Deepening the chief mouth of the Mississippi. Results. 
The Bland Silver Bill ; the President's veto ; the " Dollar of our 
Fathers" restored (1878); "Greenbacks" and Gold; the 
National Debt. 
L 380. Summary of Hayes' presidency. 



378. 
379- 



XX, XXI 

Garfield and 
Arthur's ad- 
ministrations. 
(One term, 
1881-1885) 



{Garfield and Arthur. See note r, p. 348.) 

381. Assassination of the President; Civil Service Reform, 1883 

the " Merit System." 

382. The East River Suspension Bridge ; other bridges and tunnels 

Cheap Postage ; the Alien Contract Labor Act. 

383. The New Orleans Exhibition ; the " New South." 

384,385. Progress in the South; Inanufactures ; the cotton crop 
the freedmen ; education. 
^ 386. Summary of Garfield and Arthur's presidencies. 



XXII 

The Democrats 
again in power 

(1885-1889) 

Cleveland's first 
administration. 
(One term, 
1885-1889) 



{Cleveland. See note i^p. 334.) 

387. Return of the Democrats to power. 

388. The " Knights of Labor " ; the " Black List " ; the " Boycott " ; 

the American Federation of Labor ; the Department of Com- 
merce and Labor ; the Department of Agriculture. 

389. The year of strikes ; the Chicago anarchists. 

390. Great Corporations and " Trusts " ; department stores ; action 

taken by the government. 

391. The Statue of Liberty. 

392. Three important laws : i. Succession to the Presidency ; 2. Count- 

ing the Electoral Votes ; 3. Interstate Commerce and the Rail- 
way Rate Act. 
1^ 393. Summary of Cleveland's presidency. 



XXIII 

Th Republicans 
again in power 

(1889-1893) 

Harrison's 
administration. 
(On term, 
1889-1893) 

XXIV 

The Democrats 
again in power 

(1893-1897) 

Cleveland's 
(second) 
administration. 
(One term, 
1 893-1 897.) 



{Harrison. See note /,/. 339-) 

Oklahoma Territory opened (1889). Oklahoma City and Guthrie. 
Six new States ; the New War Ships ; woman suffrage (or right 
to vote) in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho. 

396. The new Pension Act (1890) ; the Sherman Silver Act; the fall 

in silver; the McKinley Protective Tariff. 

397. The census (1890)'; the Patent Office Centennial; the Home- 

stead steel strike. 

398. Summary of Harrison's presidency. 



394 
395 



{Cleveland, second presidency. See jiote i, p. 334^ aiid note /, 

/. J6j.) 
The Australian ballot. 
The Columbian Exposition ; panic and " hard times " ; Repeal 

of an Important Act ; the Bering Sea case, a bloodless victory. 
The Coxey " Industrial Army " ; the Pullman strike ; more 

" hard times." 
The Wilson Tariff. 

The admission of Utah ; the " New West." 
The Venezuela question. 
Summary of Cleveland's second presidency. 



399 
400 



40 



402 

403 
404 

405 



TOPICAL ANALYSIS 



Ixxi 



XXV 

The Republicans 
again in power 

(I 897- I 909) 

McKinley's 
administration. 
(One term and 
part of second, 
1897-1901) 



XXVI 

Roosevelt's 
administration. 
(Part of 
one term, 
1901-1905) 



XXVII 
Roosevelt's 
administration. 
(One term, 
1905-1909) 



{McKmley. See note i,p. stb.) 
406. The Dingley Tariff. 

Enormous increase in our Exports ; architectural progress in 

New York and Washington. 
"Greater New York"; high buildings; the new aqueduct; 

Growth and Government of American cities. 
Revised state constitutions in the South and West ; Effect on 

negro suffrage and on the Fifteenth Amendment. The iniiia- 

iive and referendum in the West. 
Spanish possessions in the sixteenth century. 
The'revolution in Cuba ; war for independence. 
The destruction of the Maine ; report of the Court of Inquiry. 
The President's message ; Resolutions adopted by Congress. 
Preparation for War with Spain ; call for volunteers and money ; 

the Navy ; War declared, 1898. 
The Battle of Manila. 

416, Cervera's squadron "bottled up." 

417. Fighting near Santiago; destruction of Cervera's squadron. 
The End of the War. 
Annexation of Hawaii ; Treaty of Peace ; Territory ceded to us 

by Spain. Seven great steps of National Expansion (1803- 

1898). Cuba. 
420. The cost of the war in money and life ; work of the " Red 

Cross" and of the women of America; the Union veterans 

and the Confederate veterans. 
The Trans-Mississippi Exposition; the "Great American 

Desert " ; cheap lands and free lands ; agricultural colleges ; 

Agricultural Prosperity. 
Preservation of our Forests ; Irrigation of arid Lands. 
Savings Banks ; National Wealth ; Gifts for the Public Good. 

424. The "open door" in China; The Hague Peace Treaty, 1900. 

425. The Gold Standard Act, 1900; the Panama Canal. 
The census (1900) ; our Commerce. 
The Pan-American Exposition ; the assassination of President 

Mc Kin ley. 



407. 



409. 



410. 
411. 
412. 

413- 
414. 

415. 



418 
419, 



42 



422 
423' 



426 
427 



428. The great coal strike (1902) ; the American Pacific Cable ; Wire- 

less Telegraphy ; Expositions in the West. 

429. Summary of McKinley and Roosevelt's presidencies. 



{Roosevelt. See note i,p. jgj.) 

430. President Roosevelt's inaugural address. What Americans are 

trying to do : i. Saving time, — the Panama Canal, the Erie 
Canal, railways. 2. Saving health, — national parks. 3. Con- 
servation of our Natural Resources. 4. Saving wear and tear 
of life, and needless destruction of life, — arbitration. How 
Americans meet disaster. 

431. Admission of Oklahoma, — total number of states. The Rail- 

way Rate Act; the Pure Food and Drug Act; the Meat 
Inspection Act; great cruise of our battle ships (1907); 
the presidential election (1908) ; important agreement with 
Japan. 

432. Summary of Roosevelt's presidency 



Ixxii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



XXVIII 

Taft's 

administration. 
(One term, 
1909-1913) 



XXIX 

The Democrats 
again in power 
(1913- ) 
Wilson's 
administration. 
(Two terms, 
1913- ) 



' ( Taft. Sec note /, /. 402^ 

433. A great geographical discovery, 1909. 

434. The Tariff of 1909, 

435. Census of 1910 ; population ; food supply ; national wealth ; elec- 

tric railways ; automobiles ; progress of the Panama Canal. 

436. The Peace Movement; preparations for future wars; what our 

flag stands for ; admission of New Mexico and Arizona ; num- 
ber of states now in the Union. 

437. Result of the Presidential election of 1912 ; the Sixteenth Amend- 

ment to the Constitution, 1913; the Parcel Post, 1913. 

438. Summary of Taft's Presidency. 

f ( Wilson. See note i, p. 408.) 

439. The Celebration at Gettysburg; the Seventeenth Amendment 

to the Constitution, 1913 ; the Underwood Tariff ; the Income 
Tax, 191 3. 

440. Establishment of a new system of Banks, 1914 ; the Panama 

Canal, 1914; our relations with Mexico, 1914. 

441. The Great European War; President Wilson's proclamation of 

neutrality, 19 14. 

442. The World's Fair at San Francisco, 1915 ; the Transcontinental 

Telephone ; affairs in Mexico, 1916. 

443. The Presidential election in 1916. 

444. Purchase of three islands in the West Indies (1917). 

445. America enters the Great War (19 17). 

446. How we got Men, Money, and Ships; where our Men fought 

in the Great War (1918) ; end of the Great War (1918), 
The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1920) (see page 
225). 

447. General Summary of the History: i. Growth of the Republic; 

extent, population. 2. Advantages open to all. 3. The Arch 
of the Republic. 4. What America means. 5. The Great 
Question ; what depends on the answer. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



\The Index includes numerous dates, and the profumciation of difficult words. Attention is 
called to the fact that the greater part of Spanish, French, and other foreign names occurring t?i 
American history are now generally pronounced as in English.\ 



Abolition societies, 229. See also Anti-slavery, 
Emancipation, Garrison, Slavery, and " Under- 
ground Railroad" 
Abolitionists, 22S, 229. See also Slavery 
Acadia (ah-ka'de-ah), or Nova Scotia, 115 
Acadians (ah-ka'de-ans) expelled, 120 
Acts of Congress. vSee Laws 
Acts of Parliament. See Laws 
Adams, John, life of, 188 (note) 

our first minister to England, 170 ' 

what George III said to him, 170 

presidency of, 188 
Adams, J. Q., life of, 219 (note) 

mentioned, 214 (note), 230, 239 

maintains right of petition, 230 

presidency of, 219 
Adams, Samuel, in the Revolution, 137, 139, 140, 

142 
Admiral, title of, given, 295 (note), 376 
Adobe (a-do'ba), 25 
"Aerial (a-e'ri-al) Electric Age," 344 
Aeroplane (a'er-o- plane), invented, 344, 411 
Agricultural colleges, 385 

machinery and implements, 263, 264, 

. 340 
Agnculture, colonial, 127 

at the South, 212, 352, 353 

at the West, 113, 264, 339, 340, 365, 384-385. 
397 

See also Exports, Farms, Irrigation, Land, 
Resources, Wealth 
Agriculture, Department of, 355, 397 
Air ships, 343, 344 
Alabama, Confederate war ship, 289 

destroyed, 312 

claims settled (1871), 289, 344 
Alaska purchased (1867), 334 

products of, 335 
Albany Convention (1754), 119 
Albany, or Fort Orange, settled (1623), 59 
Algonquins (al-gon'quins), 32 
Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), 189 
Alien Contract Labor Act (1885), 351. See also 

Laws 
Allen, Ethan, takes Ticonderoga (1775), 144 
Almanac, Franklin's, 131 
Amendments to the Constitution, 176 

the first ten (i 789-1 791), 176 

the Eleventh (1798), 176 (note) 

the Twelfth (1804), 176 (note) 

the Thirtefnth (1865), 301, 330 

the Fourteenth (1868), 331 (and note) 

the Fifteenth (1870), 333, 371 



the, and the negro, 301, 330, 333, 371 
the Fifteenth has now no force, 333, 371 
the Sixteenth (1913), on Income Tax, 407 
the Seventeenth (1913), election of Senators, 
the Eighteenth (19 19), Prohibition, 225 [408 
America discovered by Northmen (1000), 2 
discovered by Columbus (1492), 10 
contine7tt discovered by Cabot (1497), 15 
voyages of Vespucci to (1499-1503), 16 
origin of the name (1507), 17 
earliest map of (1507), 19 (note) 
how found to be a continent, 18 
white men in, in 1600, 30 
what it was found to be, 3 1 
physical geography of, 31, 42, 43 
wherein superior to Europe, 31, 32 
new products obtained from, 39 
■what Gladstone said about, 32 
effect of discovery of, on Europe, 38, 39 
geography of, in relation to history, 42, 43 
England's great need of, 41, 72 (note) 
why English emigrated to, 41, 72 (note) 
first permanent English colony in (1607), 45 
first permanent French colony in (1608), 47 
thought to be less than 200 miles wide, 46 
first law-making assembly in (i6ig), 50, 52 
first negro slaves brought to (1619), 52, 53 
Dutch settlements in, 59, 60, 64 
English settlements in, 45, 63, 65, 69, 72, 81, 

84, 89, 93, 97, loi, 106 
French settlements in, 47 
Spanish settlements in, 12, 22, 26, 372 
Swedish settlements in, 96 
English explorations in, 15, 27, 28, 46 
French explorations in, 22 
Spanish explorations in, 10-15, 20-26 
struggle of the English, French, and Spanish 

for, 25-27 - 
the English colonies declare independence 

(1776), 150 
movement to save natural resources of, 394- 

397 
means "Opportunity," 39, 421 
See also Battles, Colonies, Constitution, Po- 
litical Parties, Treaties, Union, United 
States, Wars 
"America for Americans," 217 
American Association (Revolution)^ 141 

Federation of Labor, 355 
Americans, what they are doing, 394-399 
what they are trying to save, 394-398 
young, what they can do, 370, 414 
Americas, the three, 391 



Note. In the words pronounced in parentheses, e.g. Aguinaldo (a-ge-naKdo), g is always hard, as 
m.go\ whenever soft g occurs it is represented either by j or by zh, e.g. Magellan (ma-jel'lan). 
Genet (zhen-ay'). It should be clearly understood that the pronunciation of a considerable number 
of foreign names can only be given approximately. 

Ixxv 



Ixxvi LEADING FACTS OP^ AMERICAN HISTORY 



Amerigo Vespucci (a-ma-ree'go ves-poot'che), i6 
Anarchists (an'ar-kists), 356 
Anderson, General (Civil War), 277, 281, 325 
Andersonville, Union prisoners in, 325 (note) 
Andre (an'dray), British spy (Revolution), 165 
Andros(an'dros),Govemor(colonial period), 80, 87 
Annexation of territory, 381. See also Territory 

and Texas 
Antietam (an-tee'tam), battle of, 300. See also 

Battles 
Anti- Federalists, 174, 176, 177 
Anti-renters, 246 
Anti-slavery movement, 107, igS, 228-230, 249 

(and note), 266, 273. See also Abolitionists, 

Emancipation, Garrison, and Slavery 
Appomattox (ap-po-mat'tox) Courthouse, 325 
Apprentices, white, in Virginia (colonial period), 

53 
Aqueduct, Greater New York, 369 
Arbitration settlements and treaties, 344, 364, 389, 

398. See also Peace and Treaties 
"Arbor Day," 387. See also Forests 
Architecture, American, 368-369 
Arizona, Grand Canyon of, 25 ; state, 404 
Army, of the Revolution, 141, 143, 144, 146, 153, 
156, 157, 160, 161, 164, 165, 166, 168 

of VVar of 1812, 201, 205, 207 

of Mexican War, 252-255 

the Union (Civil War), 283, 285, 286, 289, 298, 
308,325 

Confederate (Civil War), 283, 285, 308, 325, 327 

number and position of both armies, 2S6, 287 

strength of both armies, 285, 287 (note) 

review of the Union, at end of the war, 329 
(and note) 

disbanding the Union, 328, 329 

disbanding the Confederate, 329 

of war with Spain, 374, 377 (and note), 378, 
383 

the, at present, 421 (and note) [(and note) 

our, in the war with Germany (1917-1918), 418 
Arnold, march of, to Quebec (Revolution), 148 

at Saratoga, 160 

treason of, 165 
Art, American, 237 
Arthur, C. A., presidency of, 349 
Articles of Confederation (1781), 170. See also 

Confederation 
Ashburton Treaty (1842), 246. See also Treaties 
Assassination of Lincoln, 325 

of Garfield, 348 

of McKinley, 391 
Assistance, Writs of (colonial period), 135, 137 
" Association, the American" (Revolution), 141 
Astor, John J., and the fur trade (181 1), 195 (and 

note) 
Astoria, 195 
Atlanta (at-lan'ta) burned (Civil War), 318 

a great industrial center, 316, 352 
Atlantic, the "Sea of Darkness," 2 

Read's flight across the (1919), 344 
Atlantic telegraph, 247, 334. See also Telegraph 
Audubon (awe'du-bon), naturalist, 238 
Austin, Stephen F., 249 

Australian, or secret, ballot, 363. See also Suffrage 
Authors, American, 131, 237. See also Books and 

Literature 
Automobiles (aw-to-mo'beels), 343,344, 404 (and note) 

Bacon's rebellion (colonial period), 57, 58 

laws (colonial period), 57 
Bainbridge, naval commander, 193 
Balboa (bal-bo'ah) discovers the Pacific (i 513), 21 



Ballot, Australian, 363. See also Suffrage 
Baltimore, founded (1729), 92 

in War of 1812, 206 
Baltimore, Lord, 89 
Bank, the first United States (1791), 180 

the second United States (1816), 230 

Jackson vetoes bill to recharter, 230 

Jackson removes deposits from, 230 

the "pet banks," 230, 240 

worthless banks, 240 

savings banks established (1816, 1911), 387, 
404 
deposits in, 387 (and note) 

national banks established (1863), 286 

Federal Reserve Banks (1913), 409 

See also Money and Panics 
Banks, General (Union), 298 
Baptists, forbidden to preach (colonial period), 75 

first church of, in America (1639), 94 
Barry, Captain John, 153, 193 
Battles, Antietam (an-tee'tam) (Civil War), 300 

Atlanta (at-lan'ta) (Civil War), 316, 318 

Ball's Bluff (Civil War), 289 (note) 

Baltimore (War of 181 2), 206 

" Battle above the clouds" (Civil War), 309 

Bennington (Revolution), 158 

Black Hawk's, in the West (Indian wars, 
1832), 236 

Boston, siege of (Revolution), 143 

Braddock's defeat (colonial wars), 120 

Brandyvvine (Revolution), 159 

Buena Vista (bwa-na-vees'ta) (Mexican War), 
254 

Bull Run, ist (Civil War), 287 

Bull Run, 2d (Civil War), 300 

Bunker Hill (Revolution), 144 

Camden, ist (Revolution), 165 

Camden, 2d (Revolurion), 167 

Cedar Creek (Civil War), 315 

Cerro Gordo (Mexican War), 254 

Chancellorsville (Civil War), 302 

Chapultepec(chap-ul'te-pek)( Mexican War), 

255 , . . 

Charleston (Revolution), 164 
Charleston (Civil War), 281, 324 
Chattanooga (Civil War), 308 
Cherry Valley (Revolution), 163 
Chesapeake and Leopard QNaiX: of 1812), 196 
Chickamauga (chick-a-maw'ga) (Civil War), 

308 
Chippewa (War of 1812), 205 
Churubusco (chur-u-bus'ko) (Mexican War), 

254 (note) 
Clark's, in the West (Revolution), 163 
Cold Harbor (Civil War), 310 
Concord (kon'kurd)( Revolution), 143 
Constitution and Guerriere (gair-re-air') 

(War of 1812), 202 
Contreras (con-tra-ras') (Mexican War), 254 

(note) 
Corinth (Civil War), 300 
Cowpens (Revolution), 166 
Crown Point (Revolution), 144 
Dallas (Civil War), 316 
Detroit (War of 181 2), 202 
El Caney (war with Spain), 378 
Eutaw Springs (Revolution), 167 
Fair Oaks or Seven Pines (Civil War), 297 
Flamborough Head (Revolution), 164 
Fort Brown (Mexican War), 252 
Fort Donelson (Civil War), 292 
Fort Duquesne (du-kane') (colonial wars), 

120, 121 



INDKX 



Ixxvii 



Battles, Fort Henry (Civil War), 292 
Fort Lee (Revolution), 154 
Fort McAllister (Civil War), 321 
Fort Mc Henry (War of 181 2), 206 
Fort Moultrie (mole'tre) (Revolution), 149 
Fort Necessity (colonial wars), 1 19 
Fort San Juan de Ulua (san wan da 00-loo'ah) 

(Mexican War), 254 
Fort Sullivan (Revolution), 149 
Fort Sumter (Civil War), 281 
Fort Washington (Revolution), 154 
Franklin (Civil War), 321 
Fredericksburg (Civil War), 300 
Germantown (Revolution), 159 
Gettysburg (Civil War), 304 
Goldsboro (Civil War), 324 
Greensborough (Revolution), 167 
Guilford Court House (Revolution), 167 
Horseshoe Bend or Tohopeka (Indian wars), 

205 
Island Number Ten (Civil War), 294 
Kehrsarge (keer'sarj) and Alabama (Civil 

War), 312 
Kenesaw (ken'e-saw) Mountain (Civil War), 

316 
King's Mountain (Revolution), 165 
Lake Champlain (War of 1812), 206 
Lake Erie (War of 1812), 204 
Leopard diwd Chesapeake {I'&o-j), 196 
Lexington (Revolution), 142 
Long Island (Revolution), 153 
Lookout Mountain (Civil War), 309 
Louisburg (colonial wars), 115 
Lundy's Lane (War of 1812), 205 
Macdonough's victory (War of 1812), 206 
Malvern Hill (Civil War), 298 (note) 
Manila (war with Spain), 376, 37S, 381 
Merrhnac and Monitor (Civil War), 290 
Mexico City (Mexican War), 255 
Mill Spring (Civil War), 292 
Missionary Ridge (Civil War), 309 
Mobile Bay (Civil War), 318 
Molino del Rey (mo-lee'no del ray) (Mexican 

War), 255 
Monitor and JMerrimac (Civil War), 290 
Monmouth (Revolution), 162 
Monterey (Mexican War), 253 
Montreal (Revolution), 146 
Murfreesboro (Civil War), 300 
Nashville (Civil War), 321 
New Orleans (or'le-anz) (War of 1812), 207 
New Orleans (Civil War), 295 
Oriskany (o-ris'ka-ny) (Revolution), 15S 
Palo Alto (pah'lo ahl'to) (Mexican War), 252 
Pea Ridge (Civil War), 300 
Peninsular Campaign (Civil War), 297 
Perry's Victory (War of 1812), 204 
Perryville (Civil War), 300 
Petersburg mine (Civil War), 315 
Petersburg, siege of (Civil War), 315 
Pittsburg Landing (Civil War), 294 
Port Hudson (Civil War), 297, 308 
Princeton (Revolution), 157 
Quebec (colonial wars), 121-122 
Quebec (Revolution), 148 
Resaca (re-sah'ka) (Civil War), 316 
Resaca de la Palma (ray-sah'ka da la pal'ma) 

(Mexican War), 252 
Richmond, advance on (Civil War), 297 
Richmond, Seven Days' Battles around 

(Civil War), 298 
San Antonio (an-to'ne-o) (Mexican War), 254 

(note) 



Rattles, San Juan (san wan') (war with Spain), 378 

Santiago (san-te-ah'go) (war with Spain), 377 

Saratoga (Revolution), 159 

Savannah (Revolution), 163 

Savannah (Civil War), 321 

Seminoles (Indian wars, 1818 and 1S35), 210, 
236 

Seven Days, around Richmond (Civil War), 
298 

Seven Pines (Civil War), 297 

Shenandoah (shen-an-do'ah) Valley (Civil 
War), 298 

Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing (Civil War), 294 

Spottsylvania Courthouse (Civil War), 310 

Stony Point (Revolution), 164 

Sumter (Civil War), 281 

Ticonderoga (Revolution), 144, 157 

Tippecanoe (Indian wars), 200 

Tohopeka (to-ho-pe'kah) (Indian wars), 205 

Trenton (Revolution), 155 

Tripoli (war with Tripoli), 193 

Vera Cruz (Mexican War), 254 

Vicksburg (Civil War), 297, 306 

Virginia (or Merrimac) and Monitor (Civil 
War), 290 

Washington taken (War of 181 2), 205 

Wilderness (Civil War), 310 

Williamsburg (Civil War), 297 

Wilson's Creek (Civil War), 289 (note) 

Winchester (Civil War), 315 

Wyoming (Revolution), 163 

Yorktown (Revolution), 167-169 

Yorktown (Civil War), 297 

See also Army, Navy, Sieges, and Wars 
Battle ships, cruise of our (1907), 400, 401 
Beauregard (bo're-gard), General (Confederate), 

282, 286, 287 
Bell, A. G., 343 
Benton, Thomas H., 228, 230 
Bergen (ber'ghen), 64 
Bering (bee'ring) Sea dispute settled (1S93), 364. 

See also Arbitration and Treaties 
Berkeley, Sir W., 54, 55, 57 
Bible, Eliot's Indian, 76 

Bienville (be-en'vil), at New Orleans (1718), 113 
Bill, a legislative, defined, 230 (note) 
" Bill of Rights" of the Constitution, 176 
Black Hawk, Indian chief, 236 
" Black List," 354 
" Black Republicans," 267 
Bland Silver Bill (1878), 347. See also Silver 
Blockade in the Civil War, 289, 31S (and note) 
Blockade of Mexican ports (1914), 407 (note 3) 
Blockade runners (Civil War), 289, 318 (and note) 
" Bonanza " (bo-nan'za) silver mmes, 271 
Books, American, 131, 237, 238, 261 
Books, Paine's "Common Sense" (Revolution), 

150 
Boone, Daniel, 183 
" Border Ruffians," 267 
Boston settled (1630), 72 

"Tea Party " (Revolution), 139 

port closed, 140 

siege of, by Continental Army, 143 

evacuated by the British (1776), 148, 149 
Boundaries of the United States. See Table in 

Appendix 
Boundary disputes, 92, 93, 246, 252. See also 

Mason and Dixon's Line 
Bounties to encourage production, 126 
Boycott, use of, 139, 141, 354, 355 (and note) 
Itraddock's defeat (colonial wars), 120 
Bradford, governor of Plymouth, 70, -ji 



Ixxviii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Bragg, General (Confederate), 300, 301, 308 
" Bread Basket of the World," 384 
Breadstuffs, export of, 367, 395 
Bridge, St. Louis, 346 

Brooklyn Suspension, 350 
Bridges, new, at New York, 350 
Brooklyn, 278 
Brown, John, life of, 267 (note) 

in Kansas, 267 

raid in Virginia (1859), 273 (and note) 

execution of, 273 

denounced by the Republicans, 274 

song, the, 273. See also Songs 
Bryan, William J., 366 (note) 
Bryant, W. C, 237 
Buchanan (buk-an'an), James, life of, 268 (note) 

presidency of, 268 

his attitude toward secession, 277 
Buckner, General (Confederate), 294 
Buell, General (Union), 294 
Buffalo, hunted by Spaniards, 25 
Buildings, notable, in New York City, 368, 369 

notable, in Washington, 368 
Bull Run, battle of, 287. See also Battles 
Bunker Hill, battle of, 145. See also Battles 

monument, 218 (and note) 
Burgesses, house of, in Virginia, 52 
Burgoyne (bur-goin'). General (British), 144 

his expedition (1777), 157-159 

surrender of, 159 
Burke, Edmund, 136 
Bumside, General (Union), 300 
Burr, Aaron, killed Hamilton in a duel (1804), 197 

tried for treason (1S07), 196 
Business corporations and " trusts," 356 
Business panics, 239. See also Panics 
Butler, General (Union), 284 

and the " contrabands," 284 

at New Orleans, 295 

Cabinet, first presidential (1789), 178 

Lincoln's, 28 1 (note) 

number of members now, 358 (note) 

and Presidential Succession Act, 358 
Cables, telegraph, 247, 334, 393. See also Tele- 
graph 
Cabot discovers the co7itinent of America (1497), 

15-16 
Calhoun (kal-hoon'), life of, 231 (note) 

denounces high protective tariff, 231 

demands free trade, 231 

declares slavery a " positive good," 23 1 (note), 

259 , 

advocates nullification, 232 

defends secession, 232 

Webster's tribute to, 231 (note) 

death of, 262 
California, conquest of (Mexican War), 254 

annexed to United States, 255 

gold found in (1848), 256-258 

emigration to, 256-257 

Vigilance Committee of, 257 

and question of slavery, 258-261 

pony express to, 336 

stagecoach to, 336 

railway to, 336-338 

agricultural products of, 258 

great earthquake in (1906), 399 
Calvert, Lord Baltimore, 89, 91 
Canada settled (1608), 47 
Canal, the Erie, finished (1825), 219-221 

effects of the, 221-222 

made transportation cheap, 221 



Canal, enlargement of the, 222, 395 

the Panama, 22, 390, 391,395,403, 405, 409,410 

See also the West 
Canals, other, 234 

Canonicus (kan-on'i-cus), Indian chief, 70 
Canyon (kan'yun), Grand, of Arizona discovered; 

25- 3' 
Cape I^reton (bret'on) Island, 15 
Capital, corporations, "trusts," 356, 357 
Capital, the national (1789-1800), 177 
Carnegie (kar-neg'i), Andrew, 389 (note) 

Institute, Pittsburg, 388, 389 (note) 
Carolina, settled, 97, 98 

constitution of, 99 

divided into North and South, 99 

rice, indigo, and cotton in, 99-100 

the Huguenots in,. 98 
Carolina, nullification in South, 231, 232 

secession of South, 274, 276 

negro rule in South, 332 
Carpenters' Hall, the, Philadelphia, 141 
"Carpetbaggers," 332 
Carteret (kar'te-ret), 65 
Cartier's (karty-aO explorations (1535), 22 
Carver, Governor, 69, 70 

Catholics, had no religious liberty in England, 
66, 89 (note) 

early missions in th'^ West, 109 

early Catholic explorers in the West, 1 09-1 13 

emigrate to Maryland (1634), 8g 

first Catholic church in the United States 
(1634), 89 

grant, religious liberty to all Christians, 90 

are deprived of their rights, 91 

regain their rights, 91 

not tolerated in Massachusetts, 72, 73, 81 

enjoy freedom of worship in Rhode Island, 95 

not allowed to vote in Rhode Island, 95 

not tolerated in Georgia, 107 

not many in the colonies in 1763, 125 (and 
note) 
Cattle and sheep ranches, 339, 340 
Cavaliers (kav-a-leerz') in Virginia, 55 
Census, the first (1790), 179 

and ratio of representation, 180 

movement of population westward (1790- 
19 10), 180 

of i860, 285 (note) 

the Centennial (1890), 361 

of 1900, 39r ; of 1910, 403 

reports (1790-1910). See Appendix, and 403 
Cervera (cer-ve'ra). Admiral, 376, 377, 378 
Chambersburg burned (Civil War), 314 
Champlain, French explorer, 47, 59 
Channing, Dr., and slavery, 228-229 
Charitable and educational gifts,353(note),3S8, 389 
Charleston settled (1670), 98, 100 

in the Civil War, 281, 324, 325 
Charter defined, 20 (note) 
"Charter Oak," Connecticut, 88 
Charters, colonial, 44, 50, 54, 72, 80, 81, 87, 89, 95, 

103, 132 
Chase, S. P. (Civil War), 326 
Chatham (chat'ham). Lord (William Pitt), 121, 

136, 138 . . 

Cherry Valley massacre (Revolution), 163 
Chicago in very early times, 117 

growth of, 237, 278 
China, our policy in, 389 
Chinese immigration, 243 
Christian Commission (Civil War), 326 
Church of England, in Virginia, 44, 48 

of England in Maryland, 92 



INDEX 



Ixxix 



Church of the Dutch in New Netherland, 62 
the Puritan, in Massachusetts, 73 
the Puritan, in Connecticut, 86 
first Baptist, in United States, g4 
first Catholic, in the United States, 89 
attendance at, compelled, 48, 74 
freedom of worship granted, 95 
See also Religious Liberty- 
Cincinnati, founded (1790), 183 

in 1861, 278 
Cities, colonial, 125 

rapid growth of modern, 237, 278, 279, 339, 

369 

population of, 36S, 369, 370 

government of, 341, 370 

"rings" in, 341 

notable buildings in, 368, 369 

improvement of, 395, 396, 399 

See also Boston, New York, Philadelphia 
City, the oldest, in the United States (1565), 26 
Civil Rights Act (i 866), 331 (note). See also Laws 
Civil service, what it is, 349 

number employed in the, 349 (note) 

reform of the, 349 
Civil War, the. See Battles and Wars 
Clark, G. R., in the West (Revolution), 163 
Clay, Henry, life of, 213 (note) 

the "great compromiser," 234 

his compromises, 213, 234, 259, 260 

and the National Road, 216 

leader of the Whigs, 238 

advocates protective tariff, 23 1 

his compromise tariff, 234 
Clayborne and Ingle rebellion (colonial period), 90 
Cleveland, Grover, life of, 354 (note) 

first presidency of, 353 

second presidency of, 363 
Clinton, Governor De Witt, 220, 221 
Clinton, British general, 144, 153, 162 (note), 168 
Clipper ships, American, 243 
Coal, discovery and use of hard (1790), 236 (and 

note) 
Coal oil, 27X, 272, 357. See also Petroleum 
Coal strike (1902), 392, 393 
Cod fishery, 47, 71, 73, 82, 125 
Coinage of money, 180. See also Dollar, Money, 

and Silver 
College, Harvard, founded (1636), 75-76 
Colleges, the three oldest, 75 

agricultural, 385 

See also Education, Gifts, and Universities 
Colonies, Dutch, 59, 84, 97 

English, 28-30, 41, 64, 65, 69, 72, 81, 84, 89, 
93, 97, loi, 106 

French, 25, 26, 47, 113 

Spanish, 22, 26 

Swedish, 96 
Colonies, agriculture in, 48, 127 

books, 76, 131 

bounties to encourage production, 126 

charters of, 20 (note), 44, 50, 72, 80, 81, 87, 
89, 95, 103, 132 

cities of the, 125 

commerce of the, 73, 125, 126, 135 

commerce,restrictionson, 56, 80, 125, 134, 135 

compact. Pilgrim, 69 

constitution, first American (1639), 85 

constitution of the Carolinas, 99 

constitution of Pennsylvania, 103-104 

constitution of Georgia, 107 

dress, styles of, 128 

education in the, 75, 104, 130 

electricity, Franklin's experiments, 131 



Colonies, England taxes the, 135-139 

England's liberal political policy toward her, 
44, 50, 52, 63, 126 

England's treatment of the, 44, 50, 52, 55, 
56, 125, 126, 135, i6i 

fisheries, 71, 73, 82, 125 

flag of the, 72, 126, 159 (note) 

Franklin's plan of union (1754), 119 

fur trade of, 59, 71, 82, 125 

government of, 44, 47, 50, 52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 
62, 66, 69, 73, 85, 90, 91, 95, 99, 103, 126 

hospitality, 129 

independent character of the people, 126, 127 

independent, people declare themselves 
(1776), 150 

Indians and the, 37-38 

jury, trial by, 126 

language of the, 125 

law, 44, 50, 52, 86, 126, 130 

law, the common, in the, 126 

laws, severe, in the, 47, 48, 70, 78, 86, 130 

legislative assembly, first (1619), 50 

life in the, 73, 127-130 

literature, 131 

mails and postage, 129 

manufactures, 125 

manufactures, restrictions on, 125 

New England Confederation (1643), 76 

occupations of the people, 48, 73, 128 

population, 124 

printing, 76 

punishment of crime, 47, 48, 70, 86 (note), 104, 
130 

religion of the, 44, 74, 90, 95, 104, 125. See 
also Catholics, Baptists, Huguenots, Pil- 
grims, Puritans, Quakers 

religious liberty in, 72, 74, 75. See also Re- 
ligious Liberty 

revolution, 135-141. See also Revolution 

shipbuilding in the, 73, 125 

slavery in the, 52, 124 

smuggling in the, 126 

suffrage in the, 50, 54, 62, 70, 73, 81, 86, 91, 
95. 97. 99. 103, 104, 107, 126 

taxation of, resisted, 136, 137 

trade, 73, 125. See also Commerce 

travel, very limited, 129 

union of the, 76, 119 

union of the, dreaded by England, 120 

unity of the people generally, 126 

vote, right to, 50, 54, 62, 70, 73, 81, 86, 91, 95, 
97, 99, 103, 104, 107, 126 

wars of the, with the French, Indians, and 
Spaniards, 38, 56, 57, 79, 85, 108, 1 14-124 

See also the Names of the Colonies 
Columbia River discovered (1792), 195 
Columbus, birth, voyages, and death, 1-15 

discovers America (1492), 10, 12 

wherein his work was great, 14-15 

celebration of his discovery (1892-1893), 363 
Commerce, colonial, 73, 125, 126, 134, 135 

restrictions on, 55, 56, 125, 134, 135 

of United States, 338, 367, 389, 391 

effect of the embargo on (1807), 196 

effect of Non- Intercourse Act on (1809), 196 

reopened temporarily (1809), 199 

effect of War of 1S12 on, 208 

Department of Commerce, 355 (and note) 

Interstate Commerce Act, 3 58, 400 

recent, 367 

See also Exports, Smuggling, and Trade 
Committees of Correspondence (Revolution), 140 
"Common Sense," Paine's (Revolution), 150 



Ixxx LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Compact, the Pilgrim (1620), 69 
Compromise (kom'pro-mize) defined, 213 

the Missouri (1820), 213 

Clay's tariff (1833), 234 

measures (1850), 259-260 
Compromises of the Constitution, 173 
Confederacy, the Southern (i86i), 276 

had slavery for its corner stone, 277 (note) 
Confederate army, 2S3, 285, 286, 289, 298, 308, 325, 

327 

navy or war ships, 289 

capital, 276, 284 
Confederation, the New England (1643), 76 

of the United States (1781), 170 

what it accomplished, 170, 172 

proved inadequate, 171, 173 

superseded by the present Constitution, 173 

why inferior to the Constitution, 175 
Congress, the Albany (1754), 119 

the Stamp Act (1765), 137 

first Continental (1774), 141 

second Continental (1775), 144 

of the Confederation (1781), 170, 171 

first under the Constitution (1789), 179 

acts of. See Laws 
Congressional Library, 368 
Connecticut settled (1635), 84 

Pequot war in, 85 

constitution of (1639), 85 

extent of, under its charter, 87 

Andros and the charter, 87 
Constitution, necessity of a, 85 (note) 

of Connecticut (first American, 1639), 85 

the " Grand Model " of Carolinas, 99 

of Pennsylvania, 103-104 

of Georgia, 107 
Constitution of the United States, first (1781), 170. 
See also Confederation 

necessity of framing a new, 171, 173 

convention drafts the new (17S7), 171, 173 

compromises of the new, 173 

Federalists and Anti- Federalists and the, 174, 

Madison's work on the, 199 (note) 
Hamilton labors for its adoption, 175 
opening lines of the, 174 
how it differed from the Articles of Confed- 
eration, 175 
the new, adopted (1787), 173-175 
what it accomplished, 175 
first ten amendments to the (i 789-1 791), 176 
Eleventh Amendment (1798), 176 (note) 
Twelfth Amendment (1804), 176 (note) 
Thirteenth Amendment (1865), 301, 330 
Fourteenth Amendment (1868), 331 (and note) 
Fifteenth Amendment (1870), 333 
what the last three amendments did, 333 
the Fifteenth Amendment now inoperative, 
333. 371 ; Sixteenth, 405 ; Seventeenth, 405 ; 
Eighteenth, 225 
the, with Introduction and Notes. See Ap- 
pendix 
Constitution, the, denounced by Garrison, 228 

(note) 
Constitution and Guerriire, 202. See also Battles 
Constitutional Convention (1787), 173 
Constitutions, state, revised (1891-1907), 371 
initiative and referendum in, 371 (and note) 
See also Negroes and Reconstruction 
Contraband of war, 284 (note) 
" Contrabands" in the Civil War, 2S4 
Controversies, international, settled peacefuUj'-, 
246, 252, 344, 364, 365, 366, 389 



Convention, the Albany (1754), 119 
the Constitutional (1787), 173 
the Hartford (1814), 208. 
of secession (i860), 274 
for preservation of natural resources (190S), 

397 
Convicts sent to America (colonial period), 54 
Cooper, novelist, 237 
Corn, discovered in America, 39 

great crop of, 385 
Cornwallis, British general, 153-157, 164-168 
Coronado's (ko-ro-nah'do) expedition (1540), 24- 

25 
Corporations and "trusts," 356-357 

government supervision of, 357 

See also under Laws, Interstate Commerce 
Act, Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food Act, 
and Railway Rate Act 
Correspondence, Committees of (Revolution), 140 
Cortez in Mexico (15 19), 22 
Cotton, exported (1784), 184, 351 

manufacture of (1790), 184 

effect of War of 1812 on manufactures, 208 

first complete cotton mill (1814), 185 

exhibition of, at New Orleans (1884), 351 

"Cotton is king," 351 

value of crop now, 48 (note) 

increased production of, 351, 352, 385 
Cotton gin invented (1793), results, 184, 185, 212 

effect of cotton gin on slavery, 185, 212 

effect on cotton manufacture, 185, 212 

effect on export of cotton, 185 
Cotton-seed oil, 352 (and note) 
Council for New England (colonial period), 72 

(note) 
Coxey " Industrial Army" (1894), 364 
"Cradle of Liberty" (Revolution), 137 
Crops, great, 3S4, 385 
Cruise of our battle ships (1907), 400, 401 
Crystal Palace (1853), 263 
Cuba conquered by Spaniards (1509), 20 

United States tries to buy (1845), 372 

and " Ostend Manifesto " (1854), 372 

expeditions against, 372 

revolutions in, 373 

President Cleveland on, 373 

starvation in, 373 

destruction of the Maine (1S98), 373 

President McKinleyon, 374 

United States declares it independent, 374 

United States declares war against Spain, on 
behalf of (189S), 376 

Spanish forces leave, 382 

becomes a dependency of the United States, 
382 

conditional independence of, 383 

insurrection in (igo6), 383 

Secretary Taft provisional governor of, 383 

government restored to the Cubans, 383 

present condition of, 383 
Cumberland or National Road (1811-1836), 215. 

See also Roads 
Custer, General, killed, 344 
Czar (zar), 217 
Czolgosz (chol'gosh), 391 (note) 

Dale, governor of Virginia (colonial period), 47 
Dalton (dawl'tun), Georgia, 309 
Dare, Virginia, 30 

Davenport, Rev. John (colonial period), 86 
Davis, Captain John (colonial period), 27 
Davis, Jefferson, life of, 276 (note) 
in Congress, 276 (note) 



INDEX 



I XXXI 



Davis, Jefferson, and slavery, 262 

president of the Confederate States, 276 

capture of, 324-325 
Debt of the Revolutionary War, 179 

payment of the, 179 
Debt of the Civil War, 325 (note), 335 

partial payment of the, 335 

reduction of interest on, 348 

present debt of United States, 335 (note) 
Debts, state (17S3-1787), 171 

in 1837, 240 
Decatur (de-ka'tur). Commodore, 193 
Declaration of Independence (1776), 150-152. See 
also the Declaration with an Introduction and 
Notes in Appendix 
Declaration of Rights (1765), 137 
Declaration of Rights (i774)' M' 
Declaratory Act (1766), 138. See also Laws of 

Parliament 
Deerfield burned (colonial period), 115 
De Gourgues' (deh goorg') revenge, 26 
De Kalb, General (Revolution), 157, 165 
Delaware, Lord, 47 
Delaware, settled by Swedes (1638), 96 

seized by the Dutch, 97 

seized by the English, 97 

granted to William Penn, 97, 102 

first state to enter the Union, 97 
De Leon (da-la-on') discovers Florida (15 13). 20 
Democratic-Republicans (1792), 182, 191 
Democrats, rise of the party (1792), 1S2 

at first called " Republicans," 180, 182 

then called " Democratic-Republicans," 182 , 

compared with the Federalists, 182 

Thomas Jefferson, leader of the, 191 (note) 

they upheld state rights, 1S2 

opposed United States Bank, 182 

Jefferson, first Democratic President, 191 

principles of, in 1840, 245 (note) 

elect all Presidents (1804-1860) except Harri- 
son and Taylor, 244, 258 

advocated free trade or revenue tariff, 219 
(note), 231 (note), 245 (note) 

advocated an independent treasury, 245 (note) 
• left the slavery question to the states, 245 
(note), 265 

believed internal improvements should be 
made by the states, 219 (note), 245 (note) 

elected Cleveland President in 1884 and 1892, 
353, 363 

the Free-Silver Democrats, 316 (note), 366 
(note); the Gold Democrats, 366 (note) 

See also Silver ; 
Denver, Colorado, 279, 339 
Department of Agriculture (1889), 355 

of Commerce and Labor (1903), 355 

of Labor (1913), 355 
" Department stores," 357 
" Desert, the Great American," 384 (and note) 
De Soto's (de so'to) expedition (1539), 23, no 

discovers the Mississippi (1541), 23-24 

is buried in it, 24 
Detroit, 117, 201, 202, 205, 27S 
Dewey, Admiral, 375^ 37S, 381 
Diaz (de'az), voyage of, 6 
Dictionary, Webster's, 238 (and note) 
Dinwiddle, Governor, 117 
Disasters, great, 341, 399 
Discoveries, scientific, 362 (note) 
Disputes, international, settled peaceably, 246, 252, 
344, 364, 365, 366, 389, 398. See also Boundaries 
Disunion, 228, 232. See also Garrison, Lincoln, 
Nullification, Secession, Slavery, Union, Wars 



" Dixie," Confederate song, 314 (and note) 

Dollar, first coined (1792), 180 

dropped from coins (1873), 342 
"dollar of our fathers" demanded, 347 
restored (1878), 347 
fall in value of silver, 347, 361 
great coinage of silver, 347 (and note), 360, 361 
coinage of silver, checked (1893), 364 
See also Coinage, Banks, Mint, Money, 
Silver 

Dorchester Heights (Revolution), 148 

Dorr rebeUion (1842), 246 

" Doughfaces," 214 (note) 

Douglas, Stephen A., 265 (and note), 266 

Draft riots (Civil War), 308 

Drafting at the South (Civil War), 308 

Drainage of swamp lands, 397 

Drake, Sir Francis, voyage of (1577-1580), 27 

Drake, E. L., sinks first oil well (1859), 271 

Dred Scott case (1857), 26S-269 

Dress in colonial period, 128 

Drink, strong, and the Indians, 59 

Drinking habits of early times, 59, 73, 224. See 
also Prohibition and Temperance 

Duquesne (du-kane'). Fort, 119, 121 

Dustin, Mrs., and the Indians, 115 

Dutch, in New Netherland or New York (1613), 
59> 60 
claim New Jersey, 64 
try to get Connecticut, 76 
seize the Delaware country, 97 
are driven out by the English, 97 
are forced to give up New Netherland (1664), 
64 

Eads' (eeds), Captain, work on the Mississippi, 

346 
Early's raid (Civil War), 312 
Earth, early ideas about the, i 

countries known in time of Columbus, i 
Earthquake at Charleston (i886), 399 

at San Francisco (1906), 399 
Edison, inventor, 344 (note) 
Education (colonial period), 54 (and note), 75, 
104, 130 

in the West, 172, 385 

in the South, 353 (and note) 

gifts to promote, 389 (and note) 

of the negro, 353 (and note) 

of women, 360 

free in America, 400 

See also Colleges, Schools, and Universities 
Edwards, Rev. Jonathan (colonial period), 131 
Election, of President Jefferson by Congress, 191 
(note) 

presidential (1800), 191 (note) 

change in method of presidential (1804), 176 
(note) 

the disputed (Hayes vs. Tilden, 1876), 345, 358 

Australian or secret ballot introduced (1889), 

363 . , , 

Electoral Commission (1876), 345 

Count Act (1SS7), 358. See also Laws 
" Electric Age," the, 344 [and Telephone 

Electric railways, 344, 402. See also Telegraph 
Electricity, Franklin's discoveries (colonial pe- 
riod), 131 
wonderful development of, 343-344, 393 
present uses of, 132, 247, 24S, 263, 264, 342- 

344. 393 ...... 

Eliot, Rev. John (colonial penod), 76, 79 
Emancipation of negroes, Garrison demands, 228 
South feared it, 259, 274 



Ixxxii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Emancipation of negroes, petition for, 220-230 

Fremont's proclamation of, 287 (note) 

Lincoln's letter to Greeley on, 303 (note) 

Lincoln's proclamation of (1863), 301 

an advantage to the South, 301, 302 
Embargo Act (1S07), 196. See also Laws 

effect on exports, 196 

effect on manufactures, 196 
Emerson, R. W., 238 

Emigration to the United States (1840- ), 242 
Emigration to the West (1825- ), 216, 236, 256 
257, 266, 338, 339 , , „ , 

of Mormons to Utah (1847), 242 

to California for gold (1849), 256, 257 

to Kansas (1854), 266 

See also Immigration and West 
Endicott, governor of Massachusetts (162S), 72 

cuts the cross out of the English flag, 72 
England's claim to America (1497), 15-16 

her need of America, 417 72 (note) 

plants colony of Virginia (1607), 45 

her general policy toward her colonies, 44, 
50, 52. 55. 56, 125, 126, 134, 135, 167 

levies taxes without giving representation in 
Parliament, 135-137 

offers representation, 161 

See also America, Colonies, Revolution, Wars 
" Era of Good Feeling" (1817), 210 
Ericson, Leif (life), discovers America (1000), 3 
Ericsson, Captain, 291 (note) 
Erie Canal completed (1825), 219-222 
Erskine (ers'kin), English ambassador, igg 
Ether, Dr. Morton introduces (1846), 248 
Exeter, New Hampshire, 82 
Exhibition, World's Fair (1853), 263 

Centennial (1876), 342 

New Orleans (1884), 351 

Columbian (1893), 363 

Omaha (1898), 384 

Pan-American (1901), 391 

Louisiana Purchase (1904), 393, 394 

Portland, Oregon (1905), 394 

San Francisco (1915), 412 
Expansion of the United States, 193, 211, 249, 

252, 255, 278, 279, 334, 380, 381, 382 
Expansion of the United States, summary of 

(1803-1898), 382. See also Territory 
Expenses of the national government, 385 (and 
note), 398 (note) 

in the Civil War, 325 (and note). See also 
Wars 

See also United States 
Exports, colonial, 47, 48, 59, 73, 100, 125 

restrictions on colonial, 55, 56 

embargo on (1807), 196 

great falling off in (1807), 196 

enormous increase in, 367, 36S (and note) 

See also Commerce, Navigation Laws, and 
Trade 
Expositions. See Exhibitions 
Express system established (1839), 236 (and note) 
Express, pony, to California (i860), 336 

Fairs. See Exhibitions 
Faneuil (fan'el) Hall (Revolution), 137 
Farms and farming at the West, 264, 339, 340, 
384-385 

cattle, or ranches (ran'chez), 339 

See also Agriculture and Crops 
Farragut, Admiral (Union), life of, 295 (note) 

takes New Orleans, 295-297 

enters Mobile Bay, 318 

is made admiral, 295 (note) 



Federalists, the, 174, 177, 182, 191 (note) 

downfall of the, 191 (note) 
Federation of Labor (18S6), 355 
Field, Cyrus W., 334 
Fifteenth Amendment, the (1870), 333, 371. See 

also Amendments 
Filipinos (fil-i-pee'noze), 382 
Fillmore, Millard, becomes President, 261 
Finis (fi'nis), 88 

Fires, great (Boston, Chicago, San Francisco), 
341. 399 

destruction of forests by, 341, 387 

annual loss by, 341 
Fisheries, cod, 71, 73, 82, 125, 135 
Fitch, John, inventor, 197 (note) 
Flag, Endicott mutilates the British (colonial 
period), 72 

the "rattlesnake flag" (colonial period), 126 

first, of the united colonies (1776), 159 (note) 

first,of the United States (1777), 159 (and note) 

first United States, on a war ship (1777), 159 
(and note) 

the "Star-Spangled Banner," 206-207 (and 
note) 

protects American vessels against search, 246 

the North rallies for the (Civil War), 283 

in the war for the Union, 282, 296 

" Rally round the flag, boys," 308 

hoisted in triumph over Sumter (1865), 325 

the Confederate (Civil War), 277 

veterans of North and South unite under the 
national, 383 
Florida, discovered (1513), 20 

meaning of name, 21 

De Soto in, 23 

struggle of French and Spaniards for, 26-27 

Spain cedes to England (1763), 123 

England cedes back to Spain (1783), 123 

Jackson in, 211 

United States purchases (1819), 211 

Seminole wars in, 211, 236 
" Flying machine " (colonial period), 129 

the, to-day, 344 
Food Act, Pure, 400. See also Laws 
Food stuffs found in America, 39 

great crops of, 384, 385, 403 

exports of, 368. See also Exports 
Foote, Commodore (Union), 294 
Force Act, 340. See also Laws 
Forests, extent of, 386 (note) 

destruction of, 341, 387 (and note) 

preservation of, 3S7 (and note), 397 
Fort Cumberland, 215 

Dearborn (Chicago), 237 

Donelson, 292 

I^uquesne (du-kane'), 119, 120, 121 

Erie, 117 

Frontenac (fron-te-nakO, m, 121 

Henry, 292 

Lee, 153, 154 

Louisburg, 115 

McAllister, 321 

McHenry, 206 

Monroe, 284 

Moultrie, 149 

Necessity, iig 

Orange (Albany), 59 

Pitt (Pittsburg), 121 

Quebec, 121 

Schuyler (sky'ler), 158 

Stanwix, 158 

Stony Point, 163 

Sullivan, 149 



INDEX 



Ixxxiii 



Fort Sumter, 281, 325 

Ticonderoga, 144, 14S, 157 
Venango (ve-nan'go), 117 
Washington, 153, 154 

Forts, line of French (ijth-iSth centuries), no, 
ii3> I '7 

" Fountain of youth," 20 

France, sends expedition to America (1524), 22 
makes explorations in America (1535), 22 
plants colony at Quebec (1608), 47 
in the West (1669-1682), iog-112 
takes possession of Louisiana (16S2), 112 
builds forts in America, no, 113, 117 
struggle of, with England for America (1689- 

1763), 114-124 
loses American possessions (1763), 123 
aids us in our war for independence, 160, 161, 

1 68 
makes treaty with us (1778), 160 
our dispute with, after the Revolution, 182 
war with (1798), 18S 
sells us Louisiana (1803), 193, 194 
citizens of, give us Statue of Liberty(i886), 357 
See also Catholic Missionaries, French, Ge- 
net, Huguenots, Lafayette, and Wars 

Franklin, Benjamin, life of, 115 (note) 
his writings, 131 
his almanac, 131 
his electrical experiments, 131 
his "key to the clouds," 132 
his picture of a snake, 1 19 
plan of union of the colonies (1754), 119 
and the Stamp Act, 136 
his letter to Strahan, 146, 147 
and Declaration of Independence, 152 
negotiates treaty with France, 160 
compared with Washington, 16 r 
obtains money for the Revolution, 161 (and 

note) 
fits out war ships, 164 
helps frame the Constitution (1787), 173 

" Free silver," demand for, 347 (and note), 363 
(note), 366 (note). See also Coinage, Dollar, 
and Silver 

Free Soilers, 259 

Free trade demanded by the South, 212, 231. See 
also Tariff 

" Free Trade and Sailors' Rights" (War of 1812), 
201 

Freedmen, " contrabands " (Civil War), 284 
or negroes (Civil War), 301 
and reconstruction, 331, 333 
and " Carpetbaggers," 332 
work mischief at the South, 332 
and " Ku Klux Klan," 340 
their power restricted, 332, 333 
progress made by the, 302, 352, 353 
See also Amendments to Constitution, Eman- 
cipation, Negroes, Reconstruction, and 
Suffrage 

Freedom of worship, 90,95, 104, 191 (note), 199 
(note). See also Religious Liberty 

Freight, cheap rates by canal, 221 

Fremont, General, life of, 287 (note) 
in California (war with Mexico), 254 
his proclamation of emancipation (Civil War), 
287 (note) 

French, the, name Montreal (1535), 22 

try to plant colonies in the South (1562, 1564), 

25-26 
found Quebec (1608), 47 
explore the West (1669-1682), 109-112 
take possession of Louisiana (16S2), 112 



French, build forts in West, no, 113, 117 

found Mobile and New Orleans (1701, 1718), 
i'3 

at St. Louis, 117 

are conquered in Canada, 115, 116 

are driven out of Acadia, 120 

are conquered in the West, 121, 123 

See also Catholics, France, Huguenots, La- 
fayette, and Wars 
Friends, or Quakers, belief of the, 77-78 

in Massachusetts, 77-79 

peculiarities of the, 77-78. See also Penn 
and Quakers 
Frobisher's (fro'bish-er) voyages, 27 
Frontenac (fron-te-nak'), in, 121 
Fugitive slaves, laws respecting (1643), 76 (note) 

and Northwest Territory (1787), 172 

and the Constitution, 174 (note) 

law respecting (1793), 174 (note) 

law respecting (1850), 260-261 

resistance to the law, 26 r 

and " Underground Railroad," 261 

"contrabands" (Civil War), 284 

See also Abolitionists, Negroes, and Slavery 
Fulton's steamboat (1807), 197 
Fur trade, 37, 59, 82, 90, 195 

Gadsden purchase (1853), 255 

"Gag rules" in Congress (slavery), 230 

Gage, British general (Revolution), 138, 140, 141, 

142, 144, 145, 146 (note) 
Galveston, 278 

hurricane (1900), 399 
Garfield, J. A., life of, 348 (note) 

presidency of, 348 

assassinated, 348, 349 
Garrison, W. Lloyd (loyd), publishes Liberator 
(183.), 228 

denounces the Constitution, 228 (note) 

mobbed, 229 

See also Abolitionists and Slavery 
Gas, natural, 272 

G«i-/^i? destroyed (Revolution), 138 
Gates, General (Revolution), 160, 165 
" Gates of the Rocky Mountains," 194 
" Gateway of the West," 117, 119 
Genet (zheh-nay'), " Citizen," 182 
Geneva Tribunal (1871), 344 
Geography, influence of, on our history, 31, 42 
George III, character and policy, 135 

resolves to tax the colonies, 135 

and Stamp Act, 136 

and tea tax, 139 

proclaims America in rebellion, 149 

hires Hessians to fight, 150 

statue pulled down (Revolution), 152 

acknowledges our independence, 170 

interview with John Adams, 170 

See also the Revolution 
Germans in the American Revolution, 157 
Gettysburg, celebration at (1913), 405 
Gifts for the public, 353 (note), 38S, 389 (and note) 
Goethals (go'thalz), Colonel, George W., 410 
Government, of the colonies, 44, 47, 50, 62, 70, 73, 
80, 81, 85, 86, 88, 95, 99, 103, 104, 107, 126 

of cities, 341, 370 

of states, 330, 371 

of Northwest Territory, 172 

of the United States, 170-179, 330-333 

See also Colonies, Confederation, Congress, 
Constitutions, Reconstruction, Secession, 
State Rights, State Sovereignty, Union, 
and United States 



Ixxxiv LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Government offices, 349 (and note) 

See also Civil Service, Civil Service Reform, 
and " Spoils System " 
"Grand Model," the (colonial period), gg 
Grant, General U. S., life of, 292 (note) 

in Mexican War, 255 

what he said of the Mexican War, 255 (note) 

in the Civil War, 292, 294, 306, 309-315, 324, 

325. 329 

"unconditional surrender," demands, 294 

takes Forts Donelson and Henry (1862), 2g4 

victory at Pittsburg Landing, 294 

moves against Vicksburg, 306 

takes Vicksburg (1863), 306-307 

in Tennessee, 309 

made general in chief (1864), 3og 

and Sherman's "hammering campaign," 
(1864), 310 
' advances on Richmond, 312 

in battles of the Wilderness, 310 

sends Sheridan to the Shenandoah valley, 314 

siege of Petersburg, 312 

takes Petersburg, 324 

receives Lee's surrender (1865), 325 

his tribute to the Confederates, 327 

presidency of, 336 

tomb of, 368 
Gray, Captain Robert, in Oregon (1792), 195 
''Great American Desert," 3S4 
" Great Law," the (colonial period), 103-104 
Greeley, Horace, 260, 303 (note) 

Lincoln's letter to, 303 (note) 
"Green Mountain Boys" (Revolution), 144 
"Greenbacks" in the Civil War, 286, 347 (and 
note), 348 

why so called, 347 (note) 

become equal to gold, 348 

redeemed in gold (1879), 348 

See also Money 
Greene, General (Revolution), 166 

in the South, 166-167 

helped by Mrs. Steele, 166 

campaign in the Carolinas 166-167 
Guam (gwam) annexed, 380, 381 
Guerrikre (gair-re-air') taken by the Constitution, 

202. See also Battles 
Guiteau (ge-toe'), assassin, 348 

Hague (hag) Peace Conference Treaty (1900), 389 

" Hail Columbia," song, 18S 

Haiti (hay'te), island of, 12 

Hale, Captain Nathan (Revolution), 154 

Halleck, General (Union), life of, 292 (note) 
in Civil War, 287, 292 

Hamilton, Alexander, life of, 175 (note) 
and the Constitution, 175 
first Secretary of the Treasury, 178 
financial policy of, 179, 180 
plan for paying national debt, 179 
established the credit of the nation, 179 
and the United States Bank, 180 
leader of the Federalist party, 182 
shot by Aaron Burr, 107 

" Hammering campaign " (Civil War), 310 

Hancock, General (Union), 305 

John (Revolution), 141, 142, 150, 152 

H amden , W. F ., founder of express system ( 1 839) , 
236 (and note) 

Harrison, Benjamin, life of, 359 (note) 
presidency of, 3S9 

Harrison, General W. H., life of, 244 (note) 
at Tippecanoe (181 1), 200 
in War of 1812, 204 



Harrison, General W. H., his presidential cam- 
paign (1840), 245 

presidency of, 244 
Hartford Convention, the (1814), 208 
Hartford founded (1636), 85 
Harvard, Rev. John (colonial period), 75 
Harvard University founded (1636), 75, 76 
Harvesters on great farms, 264, 340 
Haverhill attacked by Indians (colonial period), 

114 
Hawaii (hah-wy'ee) annexed (1898), 380 (and note) 
Hay, Secretary John, and China, 389, 401 
Hayes, R. B., life of, 345 (note) 

his election disputed, 245 

presidency of, 345 

withdraws troops from South, 345 

vetoes silver coinage bill, 347 

the silver coinage bill is passed over his veto, 
347 
Hayne, senator from South Carolina, 232 

debate with Daniel Webster (1830), 232 
Health saving, 394, 400 
" Heaven helps those who help themselves," 

131 
Hennepin, Father, explorer, 112 
Henry, Patrick (Revolution), 137, 140 
Henry letters, the (War of 181 2), 200 
Herkimer (her'ke-mer), General (Revolution), 158 
Hesse (hess), Germany, 150 
Hessians (hes'shuns) (Revolution), 150, 155. See 

also Germans 
" Higher Law," the, and slavery, 261 
Historians, some American, 238 
Holmes, O. W., poet, 238 
" Holy Experiment," William Penn's, lor 
Homestead Act (1862), 338, 384. See also Land 

and Laws 
Hood, General (Confederate), 316, 321 
Hooker, General (Union), 300, 302, 309 
Hooker, Rev. Thomas (colonial period), 84 
"Hot Stuff," song (colonial period), 121 (and note) 
Houston (hoos'tun). General Sam, 249 
Howe, British general, 144, 145, 146 (and note), 

153. 157. 158. 159. 161, 162 (note) 
Howe, Lord, British admiral, 153, 162 (note) 
Hudson, Henry, explorer (1609), 58, 59 
Hudson River named, 58 
Huguenots (hue'ge-nots), come to America, 25-27 

encounter with the Spaniards, 26-27 

settle in Charleston, 98 

illustrious descendants of the, 98 
Hull, Captain Isaac (War of 1812), 202 
Hull, General William (War of 1812), 201, 202 
Hurricane at Galveston (1900), 399 
Hussey reaper, the, 264 (note) 
Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne (colonial period), 74, 
75,82 

Iberville, founder of Mobile (1701), 113 
Idaho, 252, 359, 360 
Illinois, 163, 173, 237 
Immigrants, two classes of, 243 
Immigration, 242-244 

restrictions on, 243 (and note) 

See also Chinese and Emigration 
Impeachment of President Johnson, 332 
Impressment of American sailors, 196, 201 

given up, 207 
Improvements, internal, 234, 245 (note). See also 

Canals, Roads, Railways, Telegraph 
Independence, not at first desired by Washington, 
149 

Declaration of (1776), 150, 152 



INDEX 



Ixxxv 



Independence, war for. See Wars 

See also the Declaration, with Introduction 
and Notes, in Appendix 
Independence Hall, Philadelphia, 150, 152 
Independence of America, secured (1783), 170 

secured on the sea (1S14), 208 
Independent character of the colonists, 126, 161, 
162 

treasury system (1846), 240, 241 (and note) 
Indiana, 163, 173 
Indianapolis, 278 
Indians, why so called, 12 

small number of, 32 

the Algonquins (al-gon'quins), 32 

the Iroquois (ir-o-kwoi'), or Six Nations, 32, 
38, 117 (note), 119, 122, 132, 157, i(.3 

the, described, 32 

mode of life, 33 

moccasins, snowshoes, canoes, 33 

their wampum, or money, 34 

tobacco, 2(), 30 

mode of government, 34, 35 

religion, 35 

character, 35 

totems, 35 

self-control and endurance of pain, 36 

torture of captives, 36 

respect for courage, 36 

John Stark's adventure among, 36 

kept their treaties, 37, 70, 79, 104 (and note) 

effect of strong drink on, 59 

what they taught the colonists, 37 

influence of, on our history, 37, 38 

Catholic missionaries work among, 109 

Canadian, help the French, 114 

Iroquois, help colonists against French, 38, 
119, 132 

in the Revolution, 157, 15S, 163 

land cessions by the, 59, 60, 117 (note), 183, 
205 

treaties with the, 37, 65, 70, 79, 104, 183 

wars with the, 56, 71, 79, 85, 87 (note), 114- 
116, 120, 122, 123, 157, 183,200, 205, 210, 236, 
237, 344- See also Wars 

Captain John Smith and the, 46 

Carver and Massasoit (mas-sa-soit'), 70 

Bradford and Canonicus, 70, 71 

Eliot's work among the, 76, 79 

King Philip, noted chief, 79 

massacres by the, 114, 163, 205 

Mrs. Dustin and the, 115 

Myles Standish and the, 71 

Penn and the, loi, 104 

Quakers of New Jersey and the, 65, 66 

Roger Williams and the, 74, 93, 94 

See also Battles, Coronado, De Soto, Osceola, 
Pequots, Pocahontas, Pontiac, Powhatan, 
Seminoles, Tecumseh, Wars 
Indies, trade of Europe with ( 1 5th- 1 7th centuries), 
4, 15, 28, 39, 44 

attempts to reach by sea, 4-5, 15, 18, 27, 28, 
44> 58 

America supposed to be part of, 12 
Indies, the West, why so named, 12 

commerce with the, 73, 107, 108, 134, 135 
Indigo culture in South Carolina (colonial pe- 
riod), 100 
" Industrial Army," Coxey's (1894), 364 
Ingle, Captain (colonial period), 90 
Initiative in legislation, 371 (note) 
Insurrection of slaves (1831), 229 
Intemperance in early times, 224. See also Pro- 
hibition and Temperance 



" Internal improvements," 234, 245 (note). See 
also Canals, Railways, Roads, Telegraph 

Interstate Commerce Act (1887), 358. See also 
Laws 

" Intolerable Acts," the (1774), 140. SeealsoLaws 
of Parliament 

Inventions, 184, 185 (note), 197, 222, 223, 247, 248 
(and note), 249 (note), 263, 264 (and note), 291 
(note), 343, 361, 362 (note), 41 r (and note). .See 
also Aeroplane, Cotton Gin, Electricity, Exhibi- 
tions, Harvesters, Mowers, Patents, Printing 
Press, Reapers, Steamboats, Steam Shovels, 
Submarine, Telegraph, Telephone 

Irish, Scotch-, in the colonies, 82, 124 

Iron and steel manufacture, 121, 185 (note), 352, 
357, 367 

Iroquois (ir-o-kwoi') Indians, 32. See also In- 
dians 
. Irrigation of desert lands, 242, 339 (note), 384 
(note), 386, 307 

Irving, Washington, 237 

Islands owned by the United States, 380, 381 

Isthmian Canal, 22, 390, 391, 395 

Jackson, General Andrew, life of, 226 

victory at Tohopeka, 205 

victory at New Orleans (1815), 207 

victory over the Seminoles, 211 

presidency of, 226 

his removals from office, 227 

and the " spoils system," 227-228 

and the United States Bank, 230 

and nullification, 234 

and the preservation of the Union, 234 
Jackson, "Stonewall" (Confederate), 255, 288, 

298, 302 
Jamestown, Virginia, settled (1607), 45 

colony of, 45-58 

burned by Bacon (1676), 57 
Japan, M. C. Perry's treaty with (1854), 264 

peace with, 401 

emigration from, to America, 243 

treaty with Russia (1905), 39^ 

agreement made with (1908), 401 
Jasper, Sergeant (Revolution), 149 
Jay, John, first chief justice, 178 

treaty with England (1795), 187 
Jefferson, Thomas, life of, 191 (note) 

drafts the Declaration of Independence, 152 

first Secretary of State, 178 

presidency of, 191 

his removals from office, 192 

purchases province of Louisiana (1803), 193 

greatly loved by his slaves, ig8 

what he said about slavery, 198 

leader of the Democrats, 191 (note) 

his epitaph by himself, igi (note) 
Jerry, fugitive slave, rescued, 261 
Jesuit missionaries in the West, 109 
Jews forbidden to vote (colonial period), 95 
"John Brown's body," song. 273 
Johnson, Andrew, life of, 328 (note) 

becomes President, 328 

quarrels with Congress, 330, 332 

impeached but acquitted, 333 
Johnston, General A. S. (Confederate), 304 
Johnston, General J. E. (Confederate), 286(note), 

306, 310, 316, 324, 327 
Joliet (jo'le-et) and Marquette's (mar-kef) expe- 
dition (1673), 109 
Jones, Captain Paul (Revolution), 153, 159 (note). 

164 
Jury, trial by (colonial period), 126 



Ixxxvi LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Kalb, Baron de (Revolution), 157 

Kansas and Nebraska Act (1S54), 265. See also 
Laws 

Kansas, struggle for, 266 

song of the " Kansas emigrant," 266 

John Brown in, 267 

civil war in, 267 

enters as a free state, 268 

Kansas City, 278 

Kearney (kar'ne), General (Mexican War), 254 

Kearsarge (keer-sarj') sinks the Alabama, 312. 
See also Battles 

Kenesaw (ken'e-saw) Mountain, 316. See also 
Battles 

Kentucky, Daniel Boone in, 183 

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (1798, 1799), 
189 

Kerosene, 271. See also Petroleum 

King Philip's war (1675), 79, 87 (note). See also 
Wars 

Knights of Labor, origin of (1869), 354 

Know Nothing party, 262 (note). See also Polit- 
ical Parties 

Knox, General (Revolution), 148 

Kosciusko (kos-se-us'ko). General (Revolution), 

157 
" Ku Klux Klan" (period of reconstruction), 340 
Kurihama (kur-e-ham'a), Japan, 265 

Labor, Knights of, origin of (1869), 354 

Bureau of (1SS4), 355 

Department of (1913). 355 

Alien Contract Act (1885), 351. See also Laws 

American Federation of, origin of (1886), 355 

protection of American, 351 

Department of Commerce and Labor, 355 
(and note) 

efforts to secure industrial peace, 392 (and 
note), 39S 

advantage of free negro, 302, 330 

employments of women, 360 

Coxey " Industrial Army," 364 

disputes and strikes, 346, 356, 362, 365, 392, 398 

See also Strikes 
Labor-saving machines, 263, 342, 343, 361, 368. 

See also Inventions and Patents 
Lafayette (lah-fay-ef) in the Revolution, 157, i6o, 
167, 168 

revisits the United States (1824), 217 

Congress gives land to, 21S 

Daniel Webster's tribute to, 218 (note) 

school children erect monument to, 219 
Land, in the colonies, 44, 45, 48. See also Charters 

gift of, in Virginia, to .settlers, 48 

cessions of, by the Indians, 59, Oo, 117 (note), 
183, 205 

Roger Williams denies right of king to grant, 

74 
foreign cessions of, to the United States, 

193 
cessions of, to the nation by states, 172 
claims to, by states, 87, 98, 106, 172 
cheap public, 338, 3S4 
free public, 338, 384 
grants of, under Homestead Act (1862), 338, 

384 
speculation in, 230, 240 
government grants of, to railways, 336 
the chief source of wealth, 385, 397 
irrigation of desert, 242, 386, 397 
drainage of swamps, 397 
efforts to save and improve, 397 
See also Agriculture, Farms, Forests 



La Salle (lah sal'), French explorer (1679), iio-i 13 
explores the Mississippi (1682), 112 
takes possession of Louisiana (1682), 112 

" Latter Day Saints," 241. See also Mormons 

Laurens (law'renz), Henry, 98 

Law, colonists protected by the common, 126 
the " Higher," 261 

Laws of colonial period, how made, 52, 55, 66, 
70, 73, 85, 86, 90, 95, 99, 103, 126 
the " Bacon Laws " in Virginia, 57 
" Scripture laws " in New England, 86 
New England Confederation (1643), 76 
Toleration Act in Maryland (1649), 90, 91 
toleration in Rhode Island, 95 
Connecticut laws, 86 
New Haven laws, 86 

"Great Law" of Pennsylvania (1682), 103 
restrictive laws of Georgia, 107 
military rule in Virginia, 47, 48 
severe laws in colonies, 47, 48, 86, 130 
the " Grand Model " in Carolinas, 99 
See also Constitutions 

Laws of Parliament, 55 

Navigation Acts (1660), 55, 126, 134, 135 
Writs of Assistance (1763), 135 
Stamp Act (1765), 137 
Declaratory Act (1766), 138 
Townshend Acts (1767), 138 
Duty on tea (1773). i39 
the " Intolerable Acts" (1774), 140 
act closing port of Boston (1774), 140 
act depriving Massachusetts of self-govern- 
ment (1774), 140 
the Transportation Act (1774), 140 (note) 
the Quebec Act (1774), 140 (notes) 

Laws, United States and state, 191 (note) 

Religious Freedom Act (Virginia, 1785), 191 

(note), 199 (note) 
Ordinance for Northwest Territory (1787), 

170, 172, 21 1 
first tariff (1780), 179. See also Tariff 
Tonnage Act (17S9), 179 
first census (1790), 180 
first United States Bank (1791), 180 
first mint (1792), 180 

first F\igitive Slave Act (1793), 174 (note) 
Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), 189 
Embargo Act (1807), 196 
importation of slaves prohibited (1808), ig8 
Non-Intercourse Act (1809), 196 
Missouri Compromise Act (1820), 213 
National Road Act (1825), 215 
annexation of Texas (1845), 249 
second Fugitive Slave Act (1850), 260, 261 
compromise measures (1850), 260, 261 
Maine Prohibition Act (185 1), 225 
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), 265 
Homestead Act (1862), 338, 384 
National Bank Acts (1863), 286 
Proclamation of Emancipation (1863), 301 
Freedmen's Bureau Act (1865), 331 (note) 
Civil Rights Acts (1S66), 331 (note) 
District of Columbia Franchise Act (1867), 33 1 

(note) 
Reconstruction Acts (1867-1868), 331 
Tenure of Office Act (1S67), 333 
"Force Act" (1871), 340 
New Coinage Act (1S73), 342 
Bland Silver Coinage Act ( 1 878), 347 (and note) 
Chinese Immigration Acts (1882, 18S8), 243 
Civil Service Reform Act (1883), 349 
Cheap Postage Acts (1883, 1885), 350, 351 
Alien Contract Labor Act (1885), 351 



INDEX 



Ixxxvii 



Laws, Presidential Succession Act fiSSe), 358 
Interstate Commerce Act (1887), 358 
Electoral Count Act (1887), 358 
Australian or Secret Ballot Act (1889), 363 
New Pension Act (1890), 360 
Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890), 360 
restriction of negro suffrage (i8go- ), 333, 

Immigration Act (i8gi), 243 

repeal of Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1893), 
364 

Initiative and Referendum Act (189S), 371 

Spanish War Revenue Act (1898), 374 

annexation of Hawaii (1898), 3 So 

Gold Standard Act (1900), 389, 390 

National Irrigation Act (1902), 339 (note) 

Railway Rate Act (1906), 358, 400 

Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), 400 

Meat Inspection Act (1906), 400 
Lee, General Charles (Revolution), 154, 155, 162 
Lee, Richard H. (Revolution), 150 
Lee, Robert E. (Confederate), life of, 285 (note) 

in Mexican War, 254 

takes command of Confederate forces, 297 

in second battle of Bull Run, 300 

in battle of Antietam, 300 

in battle of Chancellorsville, 302 

in battle of Gettysburg, 304 

guards Richmond, 310, 312 

surrenders to Grant, 322, 323, 325 

applies for pardon, 330 

his advice to the South after the war, 330 
Legislative assembly, first in America (1619), 52 
Leif (life) Ericson discovers America (1000), 2-3 

called " Leif the Lucky," 3 
Leopard ?iXiA Chesapeake, 196. See also Battles 
Letter, Franklin's to Strahan, 146 

Lincoln's to Greeley, 303 (note) 
Letters, the Henry (War of 1812), 200 
Lewis and Clark's expedition (1804- 1806), 194, 

394 
Lexington, battle of (Revolution), 142. See also 

Battles 
Liberator, Garrison publishes the (183 1), 228 
Liberty, political, in the colonies, 45, 50, 52, 54, 
55. 57. 58, 62, 66, 69, 70, 73. 80, 81, 83, 8s, 86, 
88, 90, 95, 97, 99, 103, 107, 126 

religious, in the colonies, 62, 63, 72, 81, 90, 
91, 95, 191 (note) 

in England, 66, 67 

See also Suffrage and Roger Williams 
Liberty, statue of, 357 
"Liberty Bell" (Revolution), 152 
" Liberty and union," 330 
Library of Congress, 368 
Lincoln, Abcaham, early life of, 273 (note) ■ 

in Congress, 252 (note) 

his "Spot Resolutions" (1847), 252 (note) 

elected President (i860), 273 

presidency of, 280 

inaugural address, 281 

his cabinet, 281 (note) 

first call for volunteers, 283 

second call for volunteers, 298 

his letter to Horace Greeley, 303 (note) 

emancipates the slaves (1863), 301 

assassinated (1865), 325 
Linen, colonial manufacture of, 82 
Liquor, use of, 59, 73, 107, 108, 224. See also 

Prohibition and Temperance 
Literature, colonial, 131, 150 

rise of modem American, 237, 238 (and note) 

influence of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," 261 



Literature, poems and songs relating to Ameri- 
can histoiy, 10 (note), 143, 188, 204 (note), 207, 
238 (and note), 245, 249 (note), 255 (note) 

Loans, government (Civil War), 285 

Locomotive, the, invented in England, 222 
first American (1830), 223 

" Log-cabin candidate, the " (1840), 245 

London Company (colonial period), 44, 45 

Londonderry, New Hampshire (colonial period), 
82 

Longfellow, H. W., 238 

Louisburg taken (1745), 115. vSee also Battles 

Louisiana, origin of name, 112 

claimed by the French (1682), 112 
purchased by the United States (1803), 193, 
211, 382 

Louisiana Purchase Exhibition, 392. See also 
Exhibitions 

Louvre (loo'vr), Paris, 219 

Lowell, city of, 185 

Lowell, Francis C, manufacturer, 185 

Lowell, James R., poet, 23S 

Loyalists or Tories (Revolution), 141, 149, 157, 
163 

Lyon, General (Union), 287 

McClellan, General (Union), 287, 289, 297, 298, 300 
what he taught his army, 289 

IMcCormick reaper, the (1834), 264 (note) 

McDowell, General (Union), 287 

Macdonough's victory (War of 181 2), 206. See 
also Battles 

Machines, American labor-saving, 263, 361 
changes effected by, 342, 343 
exports of, 368 
See also Inventions and Patents 

McKinley, William, life of, 366 (note) 
presidency of, 366 ; death of, 392 

McLoughlin (mac-lof'lin). Dr. John, 251 

Madison, James, life of, 199 (note) 

his work on the Constitution, 199 (note) 
presidency of, 199 

Magellan (ma-jel'lan). Strait of, 18 
voyage round the world (1519), 18 

Mahan (ma-han'), Captain, 380 

Maine, Popham colony in (1607), 82 
permanently settled (1625), 82 
united with Massachusetts, 82 
and the Missouri Compromise, 214 
enters the Union (1820), 214 
boundary dispute with England, 246 
passed first prohibitory liquor law (185 1), 225 

Maine, the, destroyed (1898), 373 

Manhattan Island purchased (1626), 59 

Manifesto (man-e-fes'to), the Ostend (1854), 372 

Manufactures (colonial period), 82, 106, 125 
English restrictions on, 125 
of cotton in Rhode Island (1790), 184 
effect of cotton gin on (1793), 184. 185, 212 
of nails (1790), 185 (note) 
effect of the embargo on (1807), 196 
effect of War of 1812 on, 208 
first complete cotton mill (181 4), 185 
woolen mills, 208 
of iron and steel, 121 
protection of American, 208, 231 
enormous growth of American, 185, 352 
exports of American, 367, 368 
See also Tariff and Trusts 

Map of America, the first (1507), 19 (note) 

March to the sea, Sherman's, 320 

" Marching through Georgia," song, 320 (note) 

Marco Polo (po'lo), 4 



Ixxxviii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Marietta, Ohio, settled (178S), 1S3 

Marion (mar'e-on), General (Revolution), 99, 

164, 167 
Marquette (mar-ket'), French explorer, log 
Maryland, settled by Catholics (1634), 89 

political and religious liberty in, 90 

Toleration Act (1649), 90, 91 

Catholics of, deprived of their rights, 91 

and destruction of tea (Revolution), 139 

and Mason and Dixon's Line, 92, 93 
" Mar>'land, my Maryland," song, 300 
Mason and Dixon's Line (1763-1767), 92, 93 
Mason and Slidell (sly-del') captured (Civil War), 

290 
Massachusetts Bay Company, the, 72 

first charter of (1629), 72 
Massachusetts Colony, Boston settled (1630), 72 

Puritan rule in, 73, 76, 78, 80 

education in, 75-76 

war with Indians, 79, 87 (note) 

becomes a royal province (1684), 80 

second charter of (1691), 81 

See also Colonies, Pilgrims, Plymouth, and 
Puritans 
Massacre, the Boston (Revolution), 138 

at Cherry Valley (Revolution), 163 , 

at Wyoming, 163 

See also Indian Wars 
Massasoit (mas-sa-soit'), Indian chief, 70, 79, 93 
Matches come into use (1836), 249 (note) 
JMayflower, the, sails (1620), 69 

at Cape Cod, 69 

at Plymouth, 69, 70 
Meade, General (Union), 304 
Meat Inspection Act (1906), 400. See also Laws 
Meeting, town (colonial period), 70, 73, 126 
Menendez (men-en'dez) in Florida, 26 
Meridian destroyed (Civil War), 309 
"Merit system," the, 349 

Merrintac or Virginia destroys United States 
war ships, 290 

battle with the Monitor, 290 
Merritt, General (war with Spain), 378 
Mexican land cessions, 255 

what we paid for, 255 (note) 
Mexican War, the (1846), 252 

results of the, 255 

in 1916, 411 
Mexico conquered by Cortez (1519), 22 

declares itself independent of Spain (1824), 
372 (note) 

Texas breaks away from (1836), 249 

our relations with (1914), 411 
Michigan, 173. See also Detroit 
Miles, General (war with Spain), 378 
Milwaukee, 278 
Mines, different kinds of, 31, 397. See also Coal, 

Iron, Silver 
Minneapolis, 278 
Minnesota, 173 
Mint, United States, established (1792), 180 

decimal system of coinage adopted, 180 
Minuit (min'u-it), Governor, 59 
" Minutemen" (Revolution), 141 
Miquelon (me-ke-lon'), island of, 123 
Missionaries, Catholic, in the West, 109 
Mississippi River discovered (1541), 23-24 

explored by the French (1673-1682), 109-113 

fortified by the French, 113, 117 

Law's " Mississippi scheme" (1717), 113 

in the Civil War, 295, 296, 308 

chief mouth of, deepened (1879), 346 

productive power of valley of the, 113 



Missouri Compromise, the (1820), 213 
set aside (1854), 266, 268, 269 

Missouri enters as a slave state (1821), 213 

Mobile founded (1701), 113 

Farragut enters harbor of (Civil War), 318 

Modocs (mo'docs), Indian tribe, 344 

Money, Indian, 35 

tobacco used for (colonial period), 48 
some coined by Massachusetts colony, 80 
Spanish dollars (colonial period), 135 
paper, of the Revolution, 156, 171 
paper, in 1783, 171 
Morris raises, for Washington (Revolution), 

156, 168 
first United States Bank established (1791), 

180 
first mint established (1792), 180 
decimal system of coinage adopted, 180 
first tariff to raise (1789), 179 
how raised, for war for the Union, 285, 286 
"greenbacks" issued (Civil War), 286, 341, 

342, 348 , , . 

specie payment resumed (1879), 348 
silver question, the, 342, 347, 360, 361, 364 
gold standard adopted (1900), 390 
Wall Street, the money center of America, 3 70 
See also Banks, Coinage, Dollar, Free Silver, 
Gifts, " Greenbacks," Mint. Panics, Sav- 
ings Banks, Silver, Specie, Wealth 

]\To7iitor and JMerrirnac (Civil War), 290, See 
also Battles 

Monroe, James, life of, 209 (note) 
presidency of, 209 
inaugural address, 209 
" Era of Good Feeling," 210 

Monroe Doctrine, the (1S23), 217 

Montcalm (mont-kahm'), General, at Quebec, 121 

Montgomery, General (Revolution), 146, 148 

Montreal named, 22 

Morgan, General (Revolution), 160 (and note) 

Morgan's raid (Confederate), 308 

Mormons, rise of the (1830), 241 
build Nauvoo (1840), 241 
emigrate to Utah (1847), 242 
build Salt Lake City (1847), 242 
what they accomplished there, 242 
renounce polygamy (1890), 242 

Morris, Robert (Revolution), 156, 168 

Morristown, Washington at (Revolution), 157, 165 

Morse, Professor, life of, 247 (note) 
invents the telegraph, 247 
See also Telegraph 

Mortar boats (Civil Wgr), 296 

Morton, Dr., demonstrates use of ether (1846), 
248 

Motley, historian, 238 

Motor car, or automobile, 344 

Moultrie, Colonel (Revolution), 149 

Moultrie, Fort, 149. See also Forts 

Mowing machines invented (,1834), 263-264 (and 
note) 

" Mugwumps," 354 (note) 

Murder of Presidents, 325, 348, 392 

Nail machine (1790), 1S5 (note) 
Napoleon and the United States, T93, 200 
National banks, 286. See also Banks 
National parks, 396 

National Road, 215, 216. See also Roads 
Natural gas, 272 

Nauvoo (naw-voo'). Mormon city, 241 
Navigation laws (colonial period), 56, 80, 134, 135. 
See also Laws 



INDEX 



Ixxxix 



Navy, of the Revolution, 153, 164 

in 1798-1799, 188, 193 

in 1801, 193 

in War of 1S12, 202, 204, 206 

what the London Times said about it, 
202 

in the Civil War, 289, 290, 291, 294, 295, 296, 
312, 318 

Confederate war vessels, 2S9 

our new navy ( 1S84 to present time), 360 (and 
note), 417, 418 

in the war with Spain, 376, 377, 378', 383 

cruise of our, 'round the world (1907), 360, 
400 

total number of vessels in our, 360 (note) 

See also Battles, Blockade, Wars 
Negro slavery introduced (1619), 52 

and Dred Scott decision (1857), 269 

See also Slavery 
Negroes, emancipated (1S63), 301 

and the last three constitutional amendments, 
333 

become voters and lawmakers, 332 

effects of their action in the South, 332, 340 

power to vote restricted, 331, 333 

privileges of to-day, 341 

what Booker T. Washington says about, 341 

the "Solid South" and the, 346 

progress made by the, 353 

property owned by the, 353 

their progress in education, 353 

See also Anti-Slavery, Emancipation, Freed- 
men, and Slavery 
Neutrality, Washington's proclamation of (1793), 
182 ; expressed in the Monroe Doctrine, 217 

President Wilson' s proclamation of ( 1 9 1 4), 4 1 1 
New Amsterdam (New York), 60 
New England Confederation (1643), 76 

commerce of (colonial period), 134, 135 

in the Revolution, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 
143, 144, 14s, 146, 148, 150, 152 

discontent of, in 1807, ig6 

opposes War of 181 2, 201, 209 

in Hartford Convention (1S14), 208 
New England Aid Society and Kansas (1854), 266 
New Hampshire settled (1627), 82 

suffrage in the colony, 83 

temporarily united with Massachusetts, 83 

manufacture of linen at Londonderry, 82 
New Haven founded (1638), 86 
New Jersey claimed by the Dutch (161 7), 64 

settled by the English (1664), 65 

Quaker policy in, 65 

great prosperity of, 66 

becomes a royal colony, 66 
New Mexico, conquest of, 254 ; state, 407 
New Netherland claimed by the Dutch (1614), 59 

Manhattan Island purchased (1626), 59 

Patroons in, 60-62 

seized by the English (1664), 63-64 

name changed to New York (1664), 64 

privileges granted to, by the English, 63 

See also New Amsterdam, New York, Pa- 

■ troons, and Peter Stuyvesant 
New Orleans (or'le-anz), founded (17 18), 113 

fortified by the French, 117 

battle of 1815, 207. See also Battles 

taken by Farragut (Civil War), 295-296 

commerce of, 347, 351 

cotton exhibition at, 351 

Captain Eads' great work for, 346, 347 (and 
note) 

progress of the city, 278, 351, 352 



New Sweden or Delaware settled (1638), 96 

seized by the Dutch, 97 

seized by the English, 97 

See also Delaware 
" New West," 365, 384-385. See also the West 
New York settled (1614), 59-64. See also New 

Netherland 
New York City, purchase of Manhattan Island 
(1626), 59-60 

historic streets of, 63, 64 

first school in (1633), 75 

named (1664), 64 

in 1763, 125 

in the Revolution, 137, 139, 152, 153, 154, 165, 
168 

adoption of the Constitution by, 174, 175 

capital of the United States, 177 

Washington inaugurated in (1789), 177 

first Congress under the Constitution in, 

and the Erie Canal (1825), 219-222 

assessed value of land of, 60 

commerce of, 63 

business and money center of America, 63, 
369, 370 

vStatue of Liberty in harbor of, 357 

bridges and tunnels of, 349, 350 

wealth of, 60 

notable buildings in, 368, 369 

great aqueduct of, 369 

Central Park, 396 

" Greater New York," 368 

population of, 368 
Newspaper, the first in America (1704), 125 (note) 

the first daily (1784), 125 (note) 

the first in the West (r793), 183 

attacks on President Washington, 187 

first cheap daily (1833), 238 

how printed to-day, 263, 264 
Nicaragua (ne-ka-rah'gwa) Lake, 390 
Non- Intercourse Act (1809), 196. See also Laws 
North Carolina, 99. See also Carolinas 
North, Lord (Revolution), 169 
North, uprising of the (Civil War), 283 

Confederates invade the (Civil War), 304, 314, 
326 
Northmen discover- America (1000), 2-3 
Northwest Territory, 172 

Ordinance for government of (17S7), 170, 172, 
211 
Nova Scotia named (colonial period), 115 
Novelists, early American, 237, 238 
Nueces (nway'ses) River, 252 
Nullification (Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, 
1798, 1799), 189 

in South Carohna (1832), 231, 232, 234 

Oath, Quakers refuse to take, 78 

the President's, 178 

what Lincoln said about his,„28r 

of allegiance after the Civil War, 330 
OflSce, removals from, by Presidents, 227, 228. 
See also Civil Service Reform and "Spoils 
System " 
Oglethorpe, governor of Georgia (1733), 106 
Ohio, part of the Northwest Territory, 183 

first settlement in (1788), 183 

Cincinnati founded (1790), 183 

Indian wars in, 183 
Ohio Company, the first (1748), 117 
Oil, cotton-seed, 352 (and note) 
Oil well first bored in Pennsylvania (1859), 271. 
See also Petroleum 



xc 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Oklahoma, opened to settlement, 350 

rapid growth of, 359; state of, 400 
"Old Bullion," 230 (note) 
"Old Hickory," 227 (note) 
Old North Church (Revolution), 142 
Old South Meeting House (Revolution), 139 
Omaha, 279 

exhibition at, 3S4 
"Open Door" in China, 389 
"Opportunity," America means, 39, 421 
Ordinance for government of Northwest Terri- 
tory (1787), 170, 172, 211 
Oregon, discovered by Drake (1579), 27 

Captain Gray in (1792), 195 

our claim to, 195, 211, 250 

was held jointly by us and England, 250 

Dr. Whitman and, 250, 251 

treaty with England concerning (1846), 250, 
252 
Ore^^ofi, the, in war with Spain, 377 
Oriskany (o-ris'ka-ny) in Revolution, 158 
Osawatomie (os-a-wat'o-me), Kansas, 267 
Osceola (os-e-o'lah), Indian chief, 236 
Ostend Manifesto (1854), 372 
Otis, General (war with Spain), 381 
Otis, James (colonial period), 135, 137 

Pacific, discovered by Balboa (15 13), 21 

named by Magellan (1520), 18 

explorers and colonists search for the, 19, 
44. 46 

extension of the United States to the (1848), 
255 

pony express to the (i860), 336 

stagecoach line to the (1862), 336 

railway completed to the (1869), 33^ 

telegraph line to the (1869), 336 

telegraph cable across the (1902), 334, 393 

our possessions in the, 380 

the, and the Panama Canal, 390, 391 

agreement to maintain peace in the, 401 
Paine's "Common Sense" (Revolution), 150 
Pakenham (pak'en-ham). General, British (War 

of 1812), 207 
Palo Alto (pah'lo ahl'to), 252, 
Palos (pah'los), Spain, 8 

Panama Canal, 22, 390, 391, 395, 403, 405, 400,410 
Pan;American Exhibition (1901), 391 
Panics, business and financial, 239 

of 1837, 239-240 

of 1857, 269 

of 1873, 342 

of 1893, 364 

of 1894, 365 

of 1907, 399 
Paper money, 156, 171, r8o, 286, 341, 342, 348. 

See also Banks and Money 
"Papers, the X. Y. Z." (1797), 188 
Parcel post, 407 
Pardon, solicited by General Robert E. Lee, 330 

proclamations of (reconstruction period), 330, 
333 
Parkman, historian, 238 
Parks in cities, 396 ; national, 396 
Parties, rise of political, iSo, 182, 238, 266, 407. 

See also Political Parties 
Pascua (pass'koo-ah) Florida, 2 1 
Patent Office Centennial (1891), 361 
Patents, number of, 361. See also Inventions 
Patroons (pa-troonz') in New Netherland, 60-62 
Peabody, George, 353 (note) 
Peace, the victories of, 246, 252, 364, 365, 366, 389 

the colonists wanted, 141 



Peace, justice essential to, 141 

Franklin on, 146, 193 

Jefferson on, 193 

" Let us have peace," 368 

the Hague Peace Conference Treaty, 389 

Conference (1919), 420 (note i) 

America on the side of, 398, 406 

efforts to diminish wars, 39S, 406, 420 (note) 

agreement to maintain, in the Pacific, 401 

See also Arbitration, Disputes, Treaties, and 
Wars 
Peace, efforts to secure industrial, 392 (note), 393, 

398. See also Labor and Strikes 
Peggy Stewart, tea ship, burned (1774), 139 
Pemaquid (pem'a-quid), Maine, 82 
Pemberton, General (Confederate), 306 
Peninsular Campaign (Civil War), 297. See also 

Battles and Wars 
Perm, William, and New Jersey, 65 

and Delaware, 97 

and Pennsylvania, 10 1 

his faith in the " Golden Rule," loi 

See also Pennsylvania 
Pennsylvania, granted to Penn, loi 

colony settled (1681), 101-105 

Philadelphia founded (1682), 103 

"Great Law" of (1682), 103, 104 

treaty with the Indians (1682), 34, 104 (and 
note) 

freedom of worship in, 104 

education in, 104 

right to vote in, 104 

reformatory prisons in, 104 

death penalty in, 104 

and Mason and Dixon's Line, 92, 93 

importance of Philadelphia, 105, 177 

See also Constitution, Congress, Coal, Gettys- 
burg, Iron, Petroleum, Philadelphia, Pitts- 
burg, Revolution 
Pension Act of 1890, 360. See also Laws 
Pepperrell (pep'er-el), Colonel (colonial period), 

115, 1 16 
Pequots (pe'quots), war with the (colonial period), 

85 
Perry, M. C, opens ports of Japan (1854), 264 
Perry, O. H., victory on Lake Erie (War of 18x2), 

204 
Petersburg, siege of (Civil War), 315 

mine exploded at (Civil War), 315 

See also Battles 
Petition, to the king (1774), 141 

right of, defended by J. Q. Adams, 230 
Petitions to King George III (Revolution), 141, 
149 

to abolish slavery, 229, 230. See also Slavery 
Petroleum discovered (1859), 271 

pipe lines for carrying, 272 

Standard Oil Company, 272, 357 
Philadelphia founded (1682), 103 

historical importance of, 105 

captured by the British (Revolution), 159 

capital of the United States (1790), 177 
Philippines annexed (1908), 380, 381 

present condition of, 382 
Philip's, King, war (1675), 79 
Phips (fips), Sir William, 115, 116 (note) 
Phonograph, the, 344 (note) 
Pickett's charge at Gettysburg (Confederate), 305. 

See also Battles 
Pictures, moving, 344 (note) 
Pierce (purse), Franklin, life of, 262 (note) 

presidency of, 262 
Pike's Peak, 278 



INDEX 



xci 



Pilgrims, or Separatists, in England and Holland, 
67 

how they differed from the Puritans, 67 

why they resolved to go to America, 68 

voyage in the Mayjlower, 69 

make a " law-and-order " compact, 69 

land at Cape Cod, 69 

settle at Plymouth (1620), 69 

their form of government, 70 

unite with Massachusetts Colony (1691), 71 

what made them great, 7 1 

See also Plymouth and Myles Standish 
Pilgrims, Catholic, in Maryland (1634), 89. See 

also Maryland 
Pillory and stocks (colonial period), 130 
Pinckney, C. C, minister to France (1797), 188 
Pipe lines for carrying oil, 272 
Pitt, William, Lord Chatham (Revolution), 121, 

136, 138 
Pittsburg, formerly Fort Duquesne, 119, 121 

the "Gateway of the West," 117, 119, 121 

named in honor of Pitt (175S), 121 

great manufacturing center, 121 
Plymouth Company, the (colonial period), 44, 72 

(note) 
Plymouth named by John Smith, 69 

settled by the Pilgrims (1620), 69 
Plymouth Rock, 70 
Pocahontas (po-ka-hon'tas), 46 
Poe (poh), E. A., poet, 238 
Poems and songs of American history, 10 (note), 
143,188, 204 (note), 207, 238(note), 245, 249 (note), 
255 (note), 291 (note), 298, 300, 308, 314, 315 
Poets, American, 237, 238 
Pole; the North, discovered, 402 
Poles in the Revolution, 157 
Pohtical parties, rise of (1791), 180-182 

American or " Know Nothing," 262 (note) 

Anti-Federalist, 174, 176, 177, 182 

Democratic- Republican, 182, 191 

Democratic, 182, 191, 245 (note), 274 (note), 
366 (note) 

Federalist, 174, 177, 182 

Free Soil, 259, 262 (note) 

"Gold Democrats," 366 (note) 

" Know Nothing," 262 (note) 

" Mugwumps," 354 (note) 

Populist, 363 (note) 

Progressive, 407 

Republican (the original party, 1792), 182, 274 
(the modem party, 1856- ), 266 

Whig, 219 (note), 238, 245 (and note), 258, 262 
(note) 
Polk (poke), James K., life of, 250 (note) 

presidency of, 250 
Polygamy, 241, 242. See also Mormons 
Ponce de Leon and Florida, 20. See also De Leon 
Pontiac's (pon'te-ak) conspiracy (1763), 122 
Pope, General (Union), 300 
Pope, the, divides the worlJ (1494), 13 

praises American naval commanders, 193 
Popham, colony of, Maine (1607), 82 
Population, of the colonies in 1763, 124 

of the United States in 1775, 141 

in 1790, 180 

in i860 and 1861, 285 (and note) 

in 1890, 361 

in 1900, 391 ; in 1910, 403 

centers ot, from 1790-1910, 180 

westward movement of, 180 

growth of, in cities, 369, 370 

See also Census 
" Populists," 363 (note) 



Porter, Commodore (Union), 296 

Port Hudson (Civil War), 297, 308. See also 

i^>attles 
Portland, Maine, 82 
Portland, Oregon, 278 
Porto Rico annexed (1898), 380 
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 82 
Postage (colonial period), 129 

cheap, modern, 350 
Potato, discovery of the (1585), 28, 39 

introduced into England, 28 
Pottawatomie (pot-a-wat'o-me), 267 
Powhatan (pow-hah-tan'), Indian chief, 46 
Preble (preb'el), Commodore (war with Tripoli), 

193 
Prescott, Colonel (Revolution), 145 
Presidential election, the disputed (1876), 345, 358 
Presidents assassinated, 325, 349, 392 
Press, printing, the first in the colonies (1639), 76 

a modern, 263, 264 
Printing, colonial, 76 

modern, 263, 264 
Prisoners of war (Civil War), 325 (note) 
Prisons in Pennsylvania (colonial period), 104 
Privateers in the Revolution, 153 
Proclamation of rebellion, George Ill's (1775), 
149 

of neutrality (1793), 182 

of emancipation (1863), 301 

of pardon (reconstruction period), 330, 332 
Prohibition in Georgia (colonial period), 107, 108 

in Maine (185 1), 225 

elsewhere, 225 

See also Temperance 
Property held in common (colonial period), 45, 
48, 68 

" This is mine," 48 

See also Land, Money, and Wealth 
Protection, tariff for, 179. See also Tariff 
Providence founded (1636), 94 
Proviso (pro-vi'zo), Wilmot (1S46), 259 
Pulaski (pu-las'ki), Count (Revolution), 157 
Pullman strike, 365. See also Strikes 
Punishments, severe (colonial period), 47, 62, 70, 

78, 86 (note), 130 
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), 400. See also 

Laws 
Puritans, origin of the, 54, 67 

religion of the, 54, 67, 72 

why they came to Massachusetts, 72 (note) 

did not believe in toleration, 72 

in Salem (1628), 72 

founded Boston (1630), 72 

colony and mode of government, 72, 73, 76, 
78, 80 

and New England Confederation (1643), 76 

action respecting Roger Williams^, 74 

banish Mrs. Hutchinson, 74 

forbade Baptists to preach, 75 

dealt severely with the Quakers, 77-79 

established public schools (1647), 75 

the, in Maryland, 90 

differed from the Pilgrims, 67 

See also Colonies, Religious Liberty, Suffrage 
Putnam, General (Revolution), 154 

"Quaker guns" (Civil War), 298 (and note) 
Quakers, or Friends, belief of the, 77-78 

in Massachusetts (colonial period), 77-79 

peculiarities of the, 77-78 

severely dealt with by the Puritans, 77-79 

in New Netherland, 62 

buy New Jersey, 65 



XCll 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Quakers, or Friends, make treaties with the In- 
dians, 65, 104 

in Delaware, 97 

in Maryland, 90 

found Pennsylvania, 10 1 

their laws, 66, 103 

See also William Penn 
Quebec founded (1608), 47 

expedition against (colonial period), 115 

the English take (1759), 121-122 

expedition against (Revolution), 146 
Quebec Act (1774), 140 (note). See also Laws 

Raids, Confederate (Civil War), 297, 298, 308, 314 

Union (Civil War), 309, 314, 324 
Railways, the steam wagon or locomotive (1830), 
222 

first American locomotive (1830), 223 

first American railway (1830), 222-224 

first transcontinental railway (1869), 336 

first electric railway (18S4), 344, 350 

Interstate Commerce Act (18S7), 358 

Railway Rate Act (1906), 358, 400 

growth of, 223, 234, 365, 395 

general effects of, 223, 224, 337, 395 

effects of, on the Union, 337 

improvements in, 395 

consolidation of, 357 

overbuilding of (1S69-1873), 342 

strikes on, 346, 365. See also Strikes 

regulation of traffic on, 358, 400 
, total length of, 223, 395 (note) 
Rainier (ray'neer), Mt., 396 
Raleigh (raw'le) sends expedition to Virginia 
(1584), 28 

plants a colony in Virginia (1585). 28 

plants second colony (1587), 30 

was one of the founders of America, 30 
" Rally round the flag," song, 308 
Ranches (ran'chez), or cattle farms, 339 
Randolph, John, 214 (note) 
Rapidan (rap-e-dan') River, 302 
Reaper, invention of the horse (1834), 263, 264 
(and note) 

modem harvesters, 264, 340 
Rebellion, Claybome and Ingle's (1645), 90 

Bacon's (1676), 57 

George III proclaims colonies in (1775), 149 

Shays' (1786), 171, 172 

Whisky (1794), 186 

Dorr (1842), 246 

"high-water mark" of the (1863), 304 
Reciprocity (res-e-pros'e-ty) measures, 361 (note) 
Reconstruction after the Civil War, 330 

methods of, 330, 331 

laws relating to, 331 

the President quarrels with Congress, 330, 
332, 333 

President grants pardons, 330, 332 

effects of negro suffrage in, 332 

completed (1870), 340 

troops withdrawn from South, 345 

See also Amendments, Freedmen, Negroes, 
Representation, and Suffrage 
"Red Cross Society" (war with Spain), 383 (and 

note) 
Referendum (ref-er-en'dum) in state legislation, 

371 (note) 
Regicides in New England (colonial period), 87 
Religion in the colonies, 74, go, 95, 104, 125 
Religious Freedom Act (1785), 191 (note), 199 (note) 
Religious liberty, 66, 67 

none formerly in Europe, 66, 67^ 89 (note) 



Religious liberty. Pilgrims and Puritans seek it 
for themselves, 67, 68 

Puritans did not grant to others, 72, 74, 75 

Puritans required attendance at church, 48, 74 

Puritans permitted only church members to 
vote, 73 

denied to Baptists, 75 

denied to Quakers, 77, 78 

denied to Catholics, 72, 81 

later condition of, in Massachusetts, 81 

in Connecticut colony, 86 

none originally in Virginia, 44, 48,54, 191 (note) 

condition in New Netherland, 62, 63 

condition in New Hampshire, 82, 83 ■ 

enjoyed in New Jersey, 66 

in Pennsylvania and Delaware, 104 

in Maryland for a time, 90 

in the CaroHnas, 98 

partial in Georgia, 107 

complete in Rhode Island, 95 

condition in the colonies generally (1763), 125 

granted in the Northwest Territory ( 1 787), 1 72 

provisions of the Constitution regarding, 95 

See also Catholics, Pilgrims, Puritans, Quak- 
ers, Toleration, Roger Williams 
Removals from office, Jefferson's, 227 

Jackson's, 227, 228 

See also Civil Service Reform and " Spoils 
System " 
Represe'ntation (colonial period), 50, 54, 55, 57, 
58, 62, 66, 73, 86, 90, 99, 103, 107, 126 

and taxation (Revolution), 136, 137 

in Parliament, demanded, 136, 137 

denied by England, 136 

found impracticable, 141 

offered by England (1778), 161 

refused by the United States (1778), 161, 162 

in Congress (1783-1787), 171 

question of, in framing the Constitution 
(1787). 173 (note) 

effect of the census on (1790), 179 

and the " Federal Ratio," 179 

of North and South, 274 (and note) 

in Congress' (1790- 1900). See Table in Ap- 
pendix 

in period of reconstruction, 330, 331, 332, 340 

See also Slavery 
Republicans, first party of that name (1792), 182 

or" Democratic-Republicans" or Democrats, 
182 

See also Democrats 
Republicans, origin of the modem party (1856), 266 

oppose the extension of slavery, 266, 274 

condemn the John Brown raid, 274 

uphold protective tariff, 231 (note), 301, 366 

elect Abraham Lincoln (i860), 273 

elect all Presidents (i860- 1908) except Cleve- 
land (1S84, 1892), 353, 363 

" Mugwumps" act with the, 354 (note) 

and silver question, 347, 366 (note) 
Resaca (re-sah'ka), Georgia, 316 
Resaca de la Palma (ray-sah'ka da la pal'ma), 252 
Resolutions, Virginia and Kentucky (1798, 1799), 
189 

Lincoln's "Spot Resolutions" (1847), 252 
(note) 
Resources, natural, of United States, 31, 3q7» 403 

meeting to conserve the (igo8), 397 
Resumption of specie payment (1879), 348 
Retreat of Washington across the Delaware, 155 

Greene's in the CaroHnas (Revolution), i66, 
167 
Revenue of United States, 396 (note) 



INDEX 



XClll 



Revere (re-veer'). Paul (Revolution), 142 
Review, grand, close of Civil War (1865), 329 
Revolution, the American, causes of, 135-141 

protest against Writs of Assistance, 135 

resistance to Stamp Act, 136, 137 

refusal to import taxed goods, 139 

destruction of tea, 139 

"minutemen" raised, 141 

action of Continental Congress, 141, 144 

Continental army raised, 144 

Revolution becomes a war for independence, 
150, 152 

England's action toward the, 153 

money of the, 156 

unity of the colonies in the, 141, 150, 152 

Tories of the, 141, 149 

battles of the. See Battles 

foreign help in the, 157, 160, 161, 168 

treaty made with France (1778), 160 

navy in the, 153, 164 

women in the, 166 

England offers representation in Parliament 
(.778), 161 

United States refuses the offer (1778), i6'i, 162 

end of the war (1781), 169 

general summary of the, 169 

See also John Adams, Samuel Adams, Bat- 
tles, Franklin, General Greene, Wars, Gen- 
eral Washington 
Revolver, invention of (1835), 249 (note) 
Rhode Island settled (1636), 94 
' entire religious liberty in, 95 

suffrage restricted in, 95 

See also Roger Williams 
Rice introduced into South Carolina (1693), 99 
Rich men's gifts for public good, 353 (note), 389 

(and note) 
Riches of the United States, 387-3S8, 397. See 

also Wealth 
Richmond, the Confederate capital, 284 

battles around, 298. See also Battles 

occupied by the Union army, 324 
" Right of search " claimed by England, 196, 201 
. given up by England, 207, 246 

American flag protects against, 246 
Rights, Declaration of (1765, 1774), 137, 141 

"state," 189, 232, 234, 274, 277 
"Ring," the " Boss" Tweed, 341 
Riots, the Whisky rebellion (1794), 186 

the draft (Civil War), 308 

anarchist at Chicago, 356 

See also Strikes 
Roads (colonial period), 129 

Boone's " Wilderness Road," 183 

Cumberland or National (1811-1836), 215 

progress westward, 215 

Lincoln and Dixie Highways, 402 
Robertson, Western pioneer (colonial penod), 183 
" Rock of Chickamauga," General Thomas, 308 
Rockefeller (rock-e-fel'ler), John D., 389 (note) 
Roebling (ro'bling), bridge builder, 349 (note) 
Rolfe (rolf), John, in Virginia, 46 
Roosevelt (roze'velt), Theodore, life of, 377 
(note), 394 (note) _ 

in war with Spain, 377 

elected Vice President, 366 (note) 

becomes President, 392 

is elected President, 394 

presidency of, 394 
Rosecrans (ro'ze-kranz). General (Union), 301, 308 
" Rough Riders" (war with Spain), 377 
Rubber, invention of hard (1844), 249 (note) 
Rum (colonial period), 73, 107, 108 



St. Augustine (aw'gus-teen) founded (1565), 26 

St. Die (san dee-ayO. 17 

St. Lawrence, the, discovered (1535), 22 

St. Louis, 117, 278, 393 

St. Paul, 278 

St. Pierre (san pee-er'). 123 

Salem settled (1628), 72 

witchcraft (1692), 80 
Salt Lake City founded (1847), 242 

growth of, 242, 278 
Samoan (sam-o'an) Islands annexed (1899), 380 
Sampson, Admiral (war with Spain), 376, 377, 

378 
San Francisco, growth of, 256, 257, 278 

earthquake at (1906), 399 
Sanitary and Christian Commission (Civil War), 

336 
San Juan (san wan'), Cuba, 378 
San Juan de Ulua (oo-loo'ah), Mexico, 254 
San Salvador (sal'va-dor), island, 12 
Santa Anna, Mexican general, 253 
Santa Fe (san'ta fa') founded, 254 
Santiago (san-te-ah'go), 377 
Sault Ste. Marie (soo sent ma'ree), 109 
Savannah founded (1733), 106 

taken by the British (Revolution), 163 

taken by General Sherman (Civil War), 321 
Savannah, first ocean steamship (1819), iq8 
Savings banks (1816), 387; Postal, 404 
"Scalawags" (skal'a-wags), 332 (note) 
Schenectady (ske-nek'tah-de) (colonial period), 

"4 
Schley (sly). Admiral (war with Spain), 376, 377, 

378 
Schools, in the colonies, 75, 130 

public, established in New Netherland (1633), 

75. 

public, established in Massachusetts (1635), 75 

common, established (1647), 75 

Governor Berkeley opposed to, 54 (note) 

at the South, 353 (and note) 

at the West, 172, 385 

gifts to, 353 (note), 389 (note) 

number of pupils in common, 399 

See also Education and Colleges 
Schuyler (sky'ler). General (Revolution), 158 
Scientific discoveries, modern, 362 (note) 
Scotch-Irish (colonial period), 82 
Scott, General (War of 18 12), 205 

sent to Charleston (1832), 234 

in war with Mexico, 254-255 

in Civil War, 285-286 
"Sea of Darkness," the, 2 
Seals, protection of, 364 
"Search, right of," 196, 201, 207, 246 
Seattle (se-at'el), 278 
Secession, threats of (1830), 232 

upheld as right, 232 

denounced by Webster (1830), 232 

what Jackson said about, 234 

South Carolina secedes (i860), 274 

ten other states secede, 276, 284 

why the South seceded, 277 

slavery the real cause of, 277 (and note), 279, 
301 

effect of the Civil War on, 330 

See also Reconstruction and Slavery 
Sedition Act (1798), 180. See also Laws 
Seminoles (sem'i-noles) of Florida, 210, 236. See 

also Indians and Wars 
Semmes (sems), Captain (Confederate), 312 
Separatists, or Pilgrims, 67 
Sevier (sev-eer'), Western pioneer, 183 



xciv LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN JIISTORY 



Seward (sue'ard), W. H., 261, 264 (note), 266 

(note), 281 (note), 335 
Sewing machines (1846, 1853), 249 (note), 263 
Shadrach (shad'rak) rescued, 261 
Siiafter, General (war with Spain), 377, 378 
Sharpshooters, in the Revolution, 160 (note) 

in War of 1812, 207 
Shays' Rebellion (1786), 171-172 
Sheep and cattle ranches, 339, 340. See also 

Ranches 
Shenandoah (shen-an-do'ah) Valley, 288, 298, 314, 
324 

"Stonewall" Jackson in the (Civil War), 288, 
298, 315 

Early's raid in, 312, 314 

Sheridan's raid in, 314 
Sheridan, General (Union), life of, 314 (note) 

raid in Shenandoah Valley, 314 

ride to Winchester, 3 1 5 

in battle of Winchester, 315 

raids around Richmond, 324 
Sherman, General W. T., life of, 306 (note) 

and Mexican War, 255 

in California, 256 

at Pittsburg Landing (Civil War), 294 

at Vicksburg, 306 

in Tennessee, 309 

raid on Meridian, 309 

in " Hammering Campaign," 310 

advances on Atlanta, 315 

his march to the sea, 320 

takes Savannah, 321 

letter to President Lincoln, 321 

announcement of Lee's surrender, 322 

compels Johnston to surrender, 324 

in grand review of Union army, 329 
Sherman, Roger, 152 
Shiloh (shi'loh), 294 
Ships and shipbuilding (colonial period), 125 

"clipper ships," 243 

See also Navy and Steamships 
Shovels, steam, 393 
Siege of Boston (Revolution), 143 

of Yorktown (Revolution), 167-169 

of Chattanooga (Civil War), 308-309 

of Petersburg (Civil War), 312, 315, 324 

of Vicksburg (Civil War), 306 

of Nashville (Civil War), 321 
Sigsbee (sigz'be), 373 

Silk production attempted in Georgia, 106 
Silver coinage begun in United States (1792), 
180 

mines found in West (1859), 271 

paper dollars take the place of silver dollars, 
342 

the silver dollar dropped (1873), 342 

the " dollar of our fathers " demanded, 347 

Bland Purchase and Coinage Act (1878), 347 
(and note) 

the silver dollar restored (1878), 347 (and 
note) 

demand for free coinage of, 316 (note), 347 

great fall in value of, 347, 361 (and note) 

Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890), 360 

Sherman Silver Purchase Act repealed (1893), 
.364 

silver question in politics, 347 (and note), 360, 
363 (note), 364, 366 (note) 

See also Coinage, Dollar, Laws, Mint 
Sioux (soo) Indians, 344 
Slater, J. F., philanthropist, 353 (note) 
Slater, Samuel, cotton manufacturer (colonial 
period), 184 



Slave trade in early times, 53 

foreign, prohibited (1808), 173 (note), 198 
Slavery, beginning of, in Virginia (1619), 52 
not then thought wrong, 53 
spreads through all the colonies, 53 
in New Netherland, 62 
temporarily excluded from Georgia, 107 
introduced into Georgia, 108 
condemned by John Wesley, 107 
upheld by Whitefield, 107, 108 
excluded from Northwest Territory (1787), 

172 
and the Constitution, 173 (notes) 
and representation in Congress, 173 (note) 
and foreign slave trade, 173 (note) 
provision for recovering fugitive slaves, 174 

(note) 
the word " slave " not in the Constitution, 173 

(note) 
Jefferson opposed the extension of, 198 
Washington opposed the extension of, 198 
what Jefferson said about, 198, 211 
importation of slaves forbidden (1808), 173 

(note), 198 
fugitive-slave law of 1643, 76 (note) 
fugitive-slave law of 17S7, 172 
fugitive-slave law of 1793, 174 (note) 
fugitive-slave law of 1850, 260, 261 
resistance to Fugitive-Slave Act of 1850, 261 
effect of cotton gin on (1793- ), 185, 212 
discussion of western extension of, 211 
how it divided the country, 212 
and the tariff, 212 
why the South demanded extension of, 213, 

259 
why the North opposed extension, 212, 259 
"slavery must have room," 213 
Missouri Compromise Act (1820) and, 213 
extension of, west of the Mississippi, 213 
the dispute said to be settled "forever," 214, 

215 
"Doughfaces" and, 214 (note) 
Garrison attacks (1831), 228, 229 
insurrection of slaves (1S31), 229 
Dr. Channing's proposition concerning, 229 

(and note) 
J. Q. Adams offers emancipation petitions, 

229, 230 
" gag laws " to prevent discussion of, in Con- 
gress, 230 
Webster and Lincoln on, 229 
endangered the Union, 229, 231, 232 
formation of abolition societies, 229 
Calhoun declares it a "positive good," 231 

(note), 259 
annexation of Texas and (1845), 249 
Wilmot Proviso and (1848), 259 
question of opening California and New 

Mexico to, 258-260 
compromise measures and (1850), 259 
the " Underground Railroad " and, 261 
" Uncle Tom's Cabin " and, 261 
contest between freedom and, 262 
Kansas-Nebraska Act and (1854), 265 
struggle over, in Kansas, 266-268 
Seward's " Higher Law " and, 261 
Republican party opposes extension of, 266, 

274 
Dred Scott decision and (1857), 268, 269 
assault on Charles Sumner and, 268 
John Brown's raid and (1859), 273 
general question of extension of, 213, 230, 249, 

259, 265, 269, 274 



INDEX 



xcv 



Slavery, declining political power of (1848- 1860), 
274 (and note), 279 
Republican party pledged to shut, out of ter- 
ritories, 266, 274 
election of Lincoln and, 274 
the enemy of the Union, 277, 279 
leads to secession (i860), 277 
the " comer stone " of the Southern Confed- 
eracy, 277 (note) 
brings on Civil War (1861), 277, 301 
North would not interfere with, at the South, 

281 
General Butler and the " contrabands " ( 1 86 1 ), 

284 
Fremont's proclamation of emancipation, 

287 (note) 
Lincoln's letter to Greeley about, 303 (note) 
proclamation of emancipation (1863), 301 
three constitutional amendments and (1865- 

1870), 301, 333 
emancipation an advantage to the South, 302, 

352-353 
See also Abolition, Anti-slavery, Free Soil, 
Fugitive Slaves, Reconstruction, and Slaves 
Slaves, first brought to Virginia (i6ig), 52 
number of, in 1763, 124 
how counted in representation, 173 (note) 
importation forbidden (1808), 173 (note), 198 
insurrection of (1S31), 229 
emancipated (1863), 301 
See also Slavery 
Slaves, American sailors held as, in Tripoli, 193 
Slidell (sly-deK) and Mason, 290 
Smith, Captain John (1607), 45, 46, 47 
Smith, Joseph, founder of the Mormons (1830), 

241. See also Mormons 
Smuggling by the colonists, 126, 139 
Snake, Franklin's, iig 

Soil, Free, party, 259, 262 (note). See also Polit- 
ical parties 
Soil, conservation of the, 397. See also Agricul- 
ture, Crops, Drainage, Farms, Irrigation, and 
Land 
Songs, political and national, 121, 143, 188, 207, 
245, 266, 273, 339 
Confederate, in the Civil War, 300, 314 

(note) 
Union, in the Civil War, 273, 298, 308, 320 

(note) 
See also Poems of American History 
"Sons of Liberty" (Revolution), 139 
South, in the colonial period, 41-5S, 89-93, 97- 
loi, 106-108, 128, 130. See also Colonies 
the, in the Revolution, 137, 139, 140, 141, 144, 

146, 163, 164, 165, 166-169 
and slavery, 52. See also Slavery 
cotton raising in the, 351. See also Cotton 
why the, wanted new slave states, 259 
dreaded emancipation of negroes, 259, 274 
loss of political power by the (1848-1S60), 274 

(note) 
nullification in the, 189, 231, 232, 234 
South Carolina secedes (1S60), 276 
ten other states secede, 276, 284. See also 

Secession 
Southern Confederacy formed (1861), 276 
Civil War begins, 277, 281. See also Wars 
reconstruction of the seceded states (1866- 

1S70). 332, 340. See also Reconstruction 
withdrawal of Union troops from the, 345 
the "solid South," 346 
progress of, since the war, 351, 352 
the ''New South," 351 



South, negro suffrage in the, 331, 333. See also 
Suffrage 

restriction of negro suffrage, 333, 341, 371 

in the war with Spain, 383 
Sovereignty, Popular, 260 
Specie payment, resumption of, 348 
"Spoils system " established (1829), 227 

denounced by eminent men, 228 

abolished (18S3- ), 349 

See also Civil Service Reform 
"Spot I^esolutions," Lincoln's (1847), 252 

(note) 
Stagecoach to California (1862), 336 
Stamp Act (Revolution, 1765), 136, 137 

protest against the, 137 

repealed (1766), 137 
Stamp Act Congress (1765), 137 
Standard Oil Company, 272, 357 
Standish, Captain Myles (colonial period), 69 
Stanton, Secretary, and President Johnson, 333 
Stark, General, and the Indians, 36 

in the Revolution, 158 
Star of the West fired on (Civil War), 277 
" Star-Spangled Banner," song, 207 
"Stars and Bars" (Confederate flag), 277 
"Stars and Stripes," 159 (and note). See also Flag 
State constitutions revised (1890-1898), 371 
State, the, "indestructible," 330 
State legislation, " initiative " and " referendum," 

371 (note) 
"State Rights," 234, 277 
State Sovereignty, 234, 277 

States, admitted to the Union. See Table of 
States in Appendix 

secession of, 274. See also Secession 

reconstruction of, 330. See also Reconstruc- 
tion 

declared "indestructible" (1868), 330 

total number now, 400 

See also Constitutions, Laws, Union, United 
States 
Statueof George III pulled down(Revolution), 1 52 
Statue of Liberty, 357 
Statutes or laws. See Laws 
Steam shovels, 39^ 

Steam wagons or locomotives (1830), 222, 223 
Steamboat, Fitch's (17S7), 197 (note) 

Fulton's (1807), 197 

in the West (1811-1S18), 198, 234 

first ocean steamer (iSig), 198 
Steamships, first one to cross Atlantic (1819), 198 

first regular line of steamships (1840), 243 

modem steamships, 244 
Steel manufacture, 357, 367,368 
Steele, Mrs., in the Revolution, 166 
Stephens, Alexander H., 276 (note), 277 (note) 
Steuben (stoo'ben), Baron (Revolution), 157 
Stewart, the Peggy, burned {1774), 139 
Stocks, punishment by the, 130 
"Stonewall" Jackson, General (Confederate), 255, 

See also Jackson 
Stores, great department, 357 
Stowe, Mrs. H. P.., authoress, 261 
Strahan, Franklin's letter to, 146, 147 
Strikes, some great, 346 

Baltimore and Ohio Railway (1877), 346 

the Chicago (1886), 356 

the Homestead (1892), 362 

the Pullman (1894), 365 

the hard coal (1902), 392 

in general, 355, 356 

efforts to do away with, 398 

See also Labor 



XCVl 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



Stuart, General (Confederate), 2q8 
Stuyvesant (sti've-sant). Governor, 62-64 
Submarine, ig/, 411 

Subtreasuries of the United States, 241 (note) 
Suffrage, right of (colonial period), 81, 83, 104 

restricted (colonial period), 50, 62, 73, 95 

granted to negroes, 331, 333 

negro, restricted in South, 333, 341, 371 

white, restricted in South, 33 1 

and the " Solid South," 346 

and " initiative" and " referendum," 371 (note) 

and the " Dorr rebellion," 246 

and the Australian or secret ballot, 363 

woman, 360 (and note) 

what Americans can do by their vote, 370, 403 

See also Ballot and Vote 
Sumner, Charles, 262, 268 

assaulted in the Senate, 268 
Sumter, Fort (Civil War), 28 1. See also Battles 
Sumter, General (Revolution), 164, 167 
Suspension Bridge, the Brooklyn, 349 
Sutter (soo'ter), Captain, 256 
Swedes settle Delaware (1638), 96 

at the West, 2 (note) 

See also Northmen 

Taft, William H., life of, 402 (note) 
elected President, 401 

Taney (taw'ne). Chief Justice, 269 

Tariff, the first (1789), 179 

tariff legislation in general, 231 (note) 
first high protective (1816), 208 
North and South disagree about, 212, 213 
Clay's high protective (1824, 1828, 1832), 231 
the, of "Abominations" (1828), 231 
and nullification (1832), 232 
Clay's "compromise tariff" (1833), 234 
revenue. or free-trade (1846-1860), 231 (note) 
McKinley protective (1S90), 361 (and note) 
Wilson(i894),36s; Dingley( 1897), 366; Payne 
(1909), 403 ; Underwood (1913), 408-409 

Taxation, of the colonies by England, 135-139 
what Burke said about, 136 
like shearing a wolf, 136 
the colonies resist, 136, 137, 139 
"without representation is tyranny," 137 
colonies claim right of self-taxation, 141 
the English Stamp Act (1765), 136-138 
resistance to the Stamp Act, 137-138 
repeal of Stamp Act (1766), 138 
English Declaratory Act (1766), 138 
the Townshend (toun'zend) Acts (1767), 138 
on tea sent to colonies (1773), 139 
colonists refuse the tea (1773 -1774), 139 
England offers representation with (1778), 161 

Taxation by the United States (1789), 179. See 
also Tariff 
on foreign vessels (1789), 179 
on whisky (1794), 186 
in the Civil War (1861-1865), 286 
in war with Spain (1908), 374 
of incomes (1913), 409 

Taylor, General Z., in Indian wars, 237 
in Mexican War, 252, 253 
life of, 25S /note); presidency of, 258 

"Tea Party," the Boston (1773), 139 

Tea ship Peg^y Stewart burned (1774), 139 

Tea, taxed, the colonists refuse (Revolution), 139 

Tecumseh's (te-cum'seh) conspiracy, 200 

Telegraph, invented (1844), 247 

first public message by (1844), 247 
Atlantic cable laid (1858), 247 
Atlantic cable relaid (1866), 247, 334 



Telegraph, the wireless, invented (1896), 248 

Pacific cable laid (1902), 334, 393 

message sent by wireless to Europe (1903), 393 

consolidation of lines, 357 

See also Samuel Morse 
Telephone invented (1876), 247, 343 

the long-distance, 343, 412 

the wireless, experiments with (1908), 343 
Temperance cause, the, 224, 225 (and note) 

prohibition in Georgia (colonial period), 107, 
loS 

first temperance society (1826), 224 

prohibition in Maine (185 1), 225 

recent restrictions on liquor traffic, 225 

See also Drinking Habits and Prohibition 
Tennessee settled (1769), 183 
Tenure of Office Act (1867), 333. See also Laws 
Territory acquired by United States (1803-1898), 
382 

Louisiana (1803), 193 

Florida (1819), 211 

Texas (1845), 249, 255 (note) 

Oregon (1846), 252 

Mexican cessions, California, etc. (1848), 255 
'(and note) 

Gadsden Purchase (1853), 255 

Alaska (1S67), 334 

Hawaii (hah-wy'ee)(i8g8), 380 [382, 412-413 

Porto Rico, Philippines, etc. (1898, 1917), 380, 
Territory acquired 1803-1861, 278, 279 

summary of territory acquired 1803- 1898, 
382 
Territory, ordinance for government of North- 
west (1787), 170, 172, 211 

controversy over extension of slavery to free, 
212, 213, 259, 266 

See also Emancipation, Fugitive Slaves, 
Kansas-Nebraska Act, Missouri Compro- 
mise, Popular Sovereignty, Slavery, and 
Wilmot Proviso 
Texas claimed by United States (1803), 211 

claim given up (1819), 211 

annexed (1845), 249 

and the Mexican War (1846), 252, 255 

money paid for, 255 (note) 
Thomas, General (Union), 292, 308, 309, 321 
Ticonderoga taken by Ethan Allen (Revolution), 

guns obtained from (Revolution), 148 

retaken by the British, 157 
Tilden-Hayes' disputed election (1876), 345 
"Tippecanoe and Tyler too," song, 245 
Tobacco discovered in Virginia (15S5), 29, 39 

Queen Elizabeth tries a little, 29 

cultivation of, begins in Virginia (161 2), 48-50 

used as money in Virginia, 48 

exportation of, from Virginia, 48, 56, 126 

what it did for Virginia, 48 

value of the crop now, 48 (note) 
Tohopeka (to-ho-pee'kah), 205 
Toleration Act (1649), 90-91. See also Laws 

repealed, gi 
Toleration, religious, none formerly, 72, 75 

extended. Si 

See also Laws and Religious Liberty 
Tonnage Act (1789J, 179. See also Laws 
Topeka (to-pe'kah), 267 

Tories of the Revolution, 141, 149, 157, 158, 163 
Town meeting in the colonies, 70, 73, 126 

local government by, 70, 73, 126 

what Jefferson said about, 73 
Townshend (toun'zend) Acts (1767), 138. See also 
Laws of Parliament 



INDEX 



XCVll 



Trade, Europe's, with the Indies, 4 
Columbus seeks, with the Indies, 4 
enlarged by discovery of America, 39 
Cabot seeks trade route to Indies, 15 
Drake seeks trade route to the Indies, 28 
colonists seek trade route to the Indies, 44 
foreign, of the colonies, 44, 48, 56, 59, 71, 73 ■ 

82, 100, 108, 125 
restrictions on, 55 
Trade, foreign slave, in early times, 53 
prohibited in 1808, 173 (note), igS 
See also Cotton, Fur, Lumber, Rice, 
Tobacco . . , „ 

Trade of United States, restnctions on (1783- 
1787), 171 
embargo on (1807), 196 
temporarily reopened with England ( r 809) , 199 
great increase in our foreign, 367, 391 
See also Bounties, Commerce, Exports, Inter- 
state Commerce, Manufactures, Naviga- 
tion Acts, Railway Rate Act, and Tariffs 
Transportation cheapened by canals, 221. See 
also Canals, Commerce, Interstate Commerce, 
Exports, Express, Railway Rate Act, Railways, 
Roads, Steamboats, Steamships 
Transportation Act (i774)> 140 (note). See also 

Laws of Parliament 
Travel (colonial period), 129 

modern, 215, 243, 244, 343, 344, 395 
Treason, Benedict Arnold guilty of, 165 

Burr tried for, 196 
Treasury, independent United States (1846), 240, 
241 (and note). See also Subtreasuries, United 
States 
Treaties, Pilgrims with Indians (1621), 70, 79 
Quakers with Indians (1674), 65 
Penn with Indians (16S2), 104 (and note) 
what Voltaire said about, 104 (note) 
England with France (1763), 123 
United States with France (1778), 160 
United States with England (1783), 170 
' United States with Indians (1795), 183 
Jay's, with England (1795). '86 
United States with Spain (1795). '86 
United States with France for Louisiana 

(1803), 193 
United States with Tripoli (1805), 193 
United States with England (18 14), 207 
United States with Spain for Florida (1819), 

211 
United States with England (1842), 246 
United States with England (1846), 252 
• United States with Mexico (1848), 255 
United States with Mexico (1853), 255 
United States with Japan (1854), 264, 265 
United States with Russia for Alaska (1867), 

334 
United States with England {A /a ia ma claims) 

(1871), 344 
United States with Hawaii (1898), 380 
United States with Spain (1898), 380 
Hague Peace Conference (1901), 389 
recent arbitration (1907-1908), 398 ■ 
various boundary, 246, 252, 255 
German peace (19 19), 420 (note i) 

Tree planting encouraged, 387. See also Forests 

Trent Affair, the (Civil War), 290 

Tribute paid to Tripoli, 193 

Tripoli gives up demand for, 193 

Tripoli (trip'o-le), war with (1801), 193 

"Trusts," defined, 356 (note) 
organized, 356, 357 
condemned by Wilson tariff, 365 



"Trusts," laws concerning, 357 

government regulation of, 357 
Truxtun, Commodore, 193 
Tulane (too-lane'), Paul, 353 (note) 
Tunnels, New York City, 350 
Tweed, " Ross," 341 
Tyler, John, becomes President, 245 

quarrels with Congress, 246 
Typewriter, first practical (1876), 343 

"Uncle Billy," etc. (Civil War.), 324 
"Uncle Sam is rich enough," song, 339 
" Uncle Tom's Cabin " (1852), 261 
" Unconditional Surrender " Grant, 294 (not^e) 
" Underground Railroad " and slavery, 261 
Union of American colonies, 38 
effect of Indian wars on, 38 
the New England Confederation (1643), 76 
attempts at forming, in 1754, 119 
dread of, by England, 120 
Union of the American states (1776), 150, 152 
Articles of Confederation (1781), 170 
critical period of the (1781-1787), 171-173 
under the Constitution (178S), 173, 175 
doubt whether it could embrace the Far West, 

192 
nullification and the (1798-1799), 189 
nullification in South Carolina and the (1832), 

232, 234 
threats of secession from the (1833), 232 
Webster's speech in behalf of the, 232 
" Liberty and Union," 330 
Jackson determines to save the, 234 
the, vs. State Sovereignty, 234, 277 
endangered by slavery, 259 
denounced by Garrison, 228 
the war to save the, inevitable, 279 
Lincoln on the, 28 1 

Lincoln's letter on saving the, 303 (note) 
what the Civil War settled concerning the, 330 
"an indestructible Union composed of in- 
destructible states," 330 
the, and reconstruction, 330-332, 340 
effect of railways on the, 337 
what the Union offers, 421 
See also America* Constitutions, Flag, Nullifi- 
cation, Reconstruction, Secession, Slavery, 
United States, and Wars 
"Unite or die," 119 

United States, independence declared (1776), 150 
in the Revolution. See Revolution 
independence secured (1783), 170 
Articles of Confederation (1781), 170 
critical period of (1781-1787), 171-173 
Constitution of the (17SS), 173-175 
government organized (1789), 178-179 
growth of (1776-1910), 382, 403 
growth of cities of, 278, 279 
"trusts" and corporations of, 356 
revenue and expenditures, 398 (note) 
wealth of, 387, 3S8 
debt of, 335 (note) 

area of, 382 (and note), 421 (and note) 
population of, 39:, 403 
natural resources of, 31, 113, 397, 403 
deposits in savings banks in, 387 
civil service of, 349 (note) 
annual fire losses in, 341 
great disasters in, 341, 399 
present condition of, 401, 403, 412-421 
is a "world power,'* 381 
what people of, are trying to do, 394-399 
advantages offered by the, 421 



xcviii LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



United States means "Opportunity," 39, 421 

See also Agriculture, America, Army, Banks, 
Battles, Canals, Census, Cities, Civil Serv- 
ice, Commerce, Congress, Constitutions, 
Debt, Education, Exports, Forests, Geog- 
raphy, Gifts, Immigration, Inventions, 
Labor, Land, Laws, Literature, Manufac- 
tures, Money, Navy, Negroes, Nullifica- 
tion, Pensions, Political Parties, Population, 
Presidents, Railways, Reconstruction, Re- 
ligion, Representation, Resources, Reve- 
nue, Secession, Slavery, States, Suffrage, 
Tariff,Territory,Treaties,"Trusts/' Union, 
Wars, Wealth 
University, Har\'ard, founded (1636), 75-76. See 

also Colleges, Education, Gifts, Schools 
Utah, settled by Mormons (1847), 242 

prosperity of, 242 

woman suffrage in, 360 

See also Mormons and Salt Lake City 

Valley Forge, Washington at (Revolution), 159 

sufferings at (Revolution), 161 
Van Buren, Martin, life of, 239 (note) 

presidency of, 239 
Van Rensselaer (van ren'se-lar) estates, New 

York, 61 
Van Rensselaer and the anti-renters, 246 
Venango (ve-nan'go), 117 
Venezuela (yen-e-zwe'lah) boundary question 

(1895, 1896), 365 
Vera Cruz (ver'ah krooz), 254 
Vermont, 82 

" Green Mountain Boys "of (Revolution) ,144, 
158 

See also Ethan Allen and General Stark 
Verrazano's (ver-atz-ah'no) expedition (1524), 22 

(note) 
Vespucci's, Amerigo (a-ma-ree'go ves-poot'che), 
voyages (1499-1.S03), 16 

America named for him (1507), 16 
Veto, the President's, 331 (note) 
Vetoes, presidential, 230 (and note), 331 (and 

note), 347 
Vicksburg, siege of (Civil War), 307. See also 

Battles 
Vigilance Committee in California, 257 
Vinland discovered (1000), 3 
Virginia, Raleigh sends expedition to (1584), 28 

named by Queen Elizabeth, 28 

Raleigh attempts to colonize (1585), 28 

his second attempt (1587), 30 

first white child born in, 30 

desire of the English to go to, 41 

charter of Virginia Company (1606), 44-45 

extent of, 44 

form of government of, 44 

permanent settlement of (1607), 45 

settlers lived out of common stock, 45 

grants of lands in, 48 

cultivation of tobacco begins (1612), 48 

representative assembly established (1619), 50 

slavery begins in (1619), 52 

women sent out to, 52 

white apprentices in, 53 

convicts sent to, 54 

Cavaliers in, 55 

Navigation Laws in (i66o), 55 

given to Arlington and Culpepper (1673), 56 

Indian war in (1676), 57 

Bacon's Rebellion (1676), 57 

Jamestown burned (1676), 57 

Patrick Henry's speech (1765), 137 



Virginia, Washington in Continental Congress 

(1774), 141 
declares itself independent (1776), 58, 150 
Comwallis surrenders at Yorktown (1781), 167 
secedes from the Union (1861), 284 
western Virginia refuses to secede, 284 
state of West Virginia formed (1863), 284 
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1798-1799), 

.89 
Virginia Dare, birth of, 30 
Voltaire on Penn's treaty, 104 (note) 
Volunteers in war for the Union (1861), 283, 298 
in war with Spain (1908), 374 
See also Army and Wars 
Vote, your, 370, 403. See also Suffrage 
Voyages, early, to America (see map), 29 
Leif Ericson's (1000), 2-3 
Columbus' (1492), 10, 12 
Cabot's (1497), 15, 16 
Vespucci's (1499- 1 503), 16 
Magellan's, around the globe (1519-1522), 18 
Drake's, around the globe (1577-1580), 28 
the MayJio"Mer (1620), 69-70 
first steamer to Europe (1819), 198 
United States battle ships around the world 
(1907), 360, 400-401 

Waldseemiiller's (valt'za-mul-ler) map (1507), 19 

(note) 
Wall Street, money center of America, 63, 369, 

370 
Wampum, Indian (colonial period), 34, 35 

belt given to Penn, 34 
Wars (colonial period), French and Spanish, 
Florida (1565), 26 

colonists with Indians (1626), 71 

colonists with Pequots (1637), 85 

Dutch with Swedes (1654), 97 

English with Dutch (1664), 64 

colonists with " King Philip " (1675), 79, 87 
(note) 

colonists with Indians (1676), 56, 57 

colonists with French and Indians (1689' 
1763), 114-124 

" King William's War" (1680), 114 

"Queen Anne's War" (1702), 115 

" King George's War" (1744), 115 

Georgia with Spaniards (1750), 108 

" French and Indian War" (1754), 116 

results of wars with French and Indians 
(1689-1763), 123 

Pontiac's conspiracy (1763), 122 
Wars (Revolution) (1775-1783), 142. See also 

Battles and Revolution 
Wars (since the Revolution to 1865), with Indians 
(1791-1795), 183 

with France (1798), 188 

with Tripoli (1801), 193 

with Tecumseh (181 1), 200 

■with England (18 12- 18 14), 201, 208, 209 

causes of War of 18 12, 201 

results of War of 181 2, 208 

with Creek Indians (1814), 205 

first Seminole War (1818), 210 

"Black Hawk War" (1832), 236 

second Seminole War (1835), 236 

Mexican War (1S46-1848), 252 

cause of the Mexican War, 252 (and note) 

results of Mexican War, 255 

Civil War (1861-1865), 2S1 

cause of the Civil War, 277, 279, 301 

first gun in the war, 2S2 

rising of the North, 283 



INDEX 



XCIX 



Wars (since the Revolution to 1865), first blood 
shed in the Civil War, 283 

North and South in the, 284, 326 

Union plan for, 289 

IMcClellan organizes Union army, 289 

how money was raised for, 285, 288, 326 

navy in the, 289, 290, 291, 294, 295, 296, 312, 

318 
blockade in the, 289, 318 
number of men engaged in, 325 (note) 
loss of life in, 325 
cost of the war, 325, 326, 335 
end of the war, 324, 325 
what the war settled, 330 
grand review at close of war, 329 
disbanding the army of the, 328, 329 
See also Army, Battles, Blockade, tarragut. 

Grant, Johnston, Lee, McClellan, Navy, 

Sherman, Thomas 
Wars (from 1865 to present time), with Rlodoc 
Indians (1872), 344 
with Sioux (soo) Indians (1876), 344 
with Spain (189S), 374 
cause of war with Spain, 373-374 
money raised for, 374 
loss of life in, 3S3 
navy in, 376, 377, 3S8 
" Red Cross" work in, 3S3 
every battle an American victory, 255, 378 
results of the war, 3S0-3S3 
Union and Confederate veterans in, 383 
new territory acquired by the war, 380 
See, in general. Wars, Army, Battles, Navy, 

Peace, Territory, I'reaties 
Wars, enormous cost of, 398 (and note), 406 

Generat-Grant's condemnation of the Mexi- 
can War, 255 (note) 
sometimes unavoidable, 140, i4r, 193, 

279 
efforts to diminish number of, 398, 406 
the Great European War, 413-421 
See also Arbitration, Disputes, and Peace 
Washington, George, early life of, 118 (note) 
descent of, 55 

cuts his name on Natural Bridge, 118 
sent with message to the French (1753), ir8 
his interest in the West, 118, 119 
accompanies Braddock's expedition (1755), 

120 
builds Fort Necessity, 119 
is driven out by the French, 1 19 
helps take Fort Duquesne (1758), 121 
memberof First Continental Congress (1774), 

commander of the Continental army (1775), 

144, 146 
raises flag at Cambridge (1775), 159 (note) 
what he said of independence, 149 
drives the British out of Boston (1776), 148 
at New York City, 153, 154 
saves Putnam's army, 154 
retreats northward, 154 
and the false-hearted Lee, 154, 155 
retreats across New Jersey, 155 
crosses the Delaware, 155 
recrosses the Delaware, 155 
gains the battle of Trenton (1776), 155 
Morris raises money for (1777), 15A 
gains the victory of Princeton (1777), 157 
worries General Howe, 159 
at Brandywine Creek, 159 
at Germantown, 159 
retreats to Valley Forge, 159 



Washington, George, and Benjamin Franklin, 161 
sufferings of army at Valley Forge, 161 
and Lafayette, 157 
wins battle of Monmouth (1778), 162 
rebukes the traitorous Lee, 162 
and Arnold's treason (1780), 165 
terrible winter at Morristown, 165 
Morris helps again with money, 168 
wins the great victory of Yorktown (1781), 

169 
"The World's Upside Down," 169 
end of the Revolutionary War (1781), 169 
in the Constitutional Convention (1787), 173 
elected President (1788), 177 
inaugurated in New York (17S9), 178 
forms his cabinet, 178 
Proclamation of Neutrality (1793), 182 
signs Jay's Treaty with England (1795), 187 
abused by certain newspapers, 187 
his farewell address (1797), 187 
his death (1799), 189, 190 

Washington, D. C., made national capital (1800), 
177, 192 
captured by British (1814), 205 
partly burned by British (1814), 205, 209 
review of Union armies in (1865), 329 
Library of Congress in, 368 

Wayne, General (Revolution), 164 

in Ohio, war with Indians (1791-1795), 183 

Wealth of the United States, 387-3S8, 403-404 
natural riches of the United States, 31, 397 
efforts to conserve the natural, 31, 397 
use of, for the public good, 3S8 
See also Gifts 

"We are coming, Father Abraham,'' song, 298 

'■ We cross the prairies," song, 266 

Weather, effect of, in war, 297, 316 

Weather Bureau established (1870), 341 
services rendered by the, 341 

\\"ebster, Daniel, life of, 83 (note), 232 (note) 
denounces the " spoils system," 228 
address at Bunker Hill (1825), 218 (and note) 
replies to Calhoun, 232 
replies to Hayne (1830-1833), 232, 330 
denounces talk about secession, 232 
upholds the Union, 232, 330 
our debt to, 232, 234 
Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842), 246 
supports compromise measures (1850), 260 
supports Fugitive-Slave Law (1850), 260 (and 

note) 
denounced by John Quincy Adams, 260 
defended by Horace Greeley, 260 
his death, 262 

Webster's, Noah, dictionary, 238 (and note) 

Wells, Dr. Horace, 248 (note) 

Wesley, John, in Georgia (colonial period), 107 

West, Spanish explorations in, 23-25 
Coronado's expedition (1540), 24-25 
De Soto discovers the Mississippi (1541), 24 
French Catholic missionaries in the (1615- 

1669), 109 
Joliet and Marquette on the Mississippi 

(1673), 109 _ 
Father Hennepm m the (r68o), 112 
La Salle's expedition (1680-1682), 112 
La Salle claims Louisiana (1682), 112 
French build forts in the, no, 113, 117 
Pittsburg the " Gateway of the West," 117, 

119 
French fight to hold the, 119, 120, 121 
Ohio Company and the, 117 
Washington's interest in the, 118 



LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



West, condition of the, in 1763, 124 

the wilderness of the, 124, 1S3, 192, 195, 242, 

279. 339 
the Wilderness Road in the, 183 
in the Revolution, 162 
George Rogers Clark's victories in, 163 
early emigration to the, 1S3 
Daniel Boone in the, 183 
Ordinance for Northwest Territory (1787), 

170, 172, 211 
Indian wars in Ohio, 183 
settlements made in Ohio, 1S3 
purchase of Louisiana Territory (1803), 193 
desire to reach the, 215 
the steamboat and the, 19S, 234 
the National Road and the, 215, 216 
the Erie Canal and the, 221, 222 
rapid growth of the, 216, 234, 236, 237, 

264 
immigration and the, 243, 244, 33S 
Oregon added to the (1S46), 251, 252 
Mormons emigrate to Utah (1847), 242 
Mexican land cessions in the (1848), 255 
westward movement of population (1790- 

1910), 180 
emigration to California (1849), 256, 257 
effect of agricultural machinery on the, 264, 

340 
general growth of the, 278, 279, 338, 339, 365, 

384-385, 394 
effect of railways on the, 338 
effect of liberal land laws on the, 338 
the " New West," 365 
great farms in the, 264, 339, 384, 385 
irrigation in the, 242, 384 (note), 385, 397 
exhibitions Jn the, 363, 3S4, 393, 394 
bee also Agriculture, Cities, Crops, Emigra- 
tion, Farms," Indian Wars, Kansas, Land, 
Mines, Railways, Slavery, Territories 

West Indies, why so named, 12 
commerce with the, 135 
purchase of islands in (1917), 412 

West Virginia, 284, 287 

Western Union Telegraph, 357 

Wheat crops, great, 385 

Wheelwright, Rev. John, 82 

Whigs, origin of the (1834), 23S 

advocate United States Bank, 238, 245 

(note) 
Henry Clay, leader of the, 238 
"Tippecanoe and Tyler too" (1840), 245 
elect Harrison and Tyler (1840), 245 
their poHtical principles, 245 (note) 
compared with the Democrats, 245 (note) 
elect Taylor President (1848), 258 (note) 
and Fugitive-Slave Law of 1850, 262 (note) 
death of the party (1852), 262 (note) 

Whisky Rebellion (1794), 186 

White apprentices (colonial period), 53 

" White Apron Brigade " (colonial period), 57 

Whitefield (whiffield), Rev. George, 107 
upholds slavery, 108 

Whitman, Dr., and Oregon, 250, 251 

Whitney, Eli, invents cotton gin (1793), 184 

Whittier, the poet, 238 



Wilderness of the West, 124, 183, 192, 195, 242, 

279, 339 
Wilderness, battles of the, 310. See also Battles 
"Wilderness Road," 183. See also Roads 
Wilkes (wilks) (Union navy), 290 
Will, Jonathan Edwards on the, 131 
Willamette (wi-lam'et) Valley, 251 
William and Mary College (1693), 75 
Williams, Roger, banished (1635), 74 

belief in " soul liberty," 74 

founds Providence (1636), 94 

establishes e^itire religious liberty, 95 

secures a charter for Rhode Island, 95 
Wilmot Proviso (pro-vi'zo) and slavery (1848), 259 
Wilson, Woodrow, life of, 408 (note); elected 

President, 407, 412 
Winslow, Captain (Union navy), 312 
Winter quarters of Washington, 157, 161, 165 
Winthrop, Governor (colonial period), 72 (and 

note) 
Wireless telegraph, 248, 393. See also Telegraph 
Wireless telephone, 343. See also Telephone 
Wirz (virtz), 325 (note) 
Witchcraft, the Salem (1692), 80 
Wolfe (wolf). General, takes Quebec (1759), 121 
Woman suffrage, 360 
Women sent to Virginia (colonial period), 52 

and the Revolution, 166 

and the Civil War, 326 

and war with Spain, 383 (and note) 

and "Red Cross" work, 383 

occupations open to, 360 

education of, 360 

woman suffrage, 360 (and note) 

in Wyoming, 360 
Woods or forests, preservation of, 385-387, 397. 

See also Forests and Tree Planting 
Woolen mills, 208 
Worcester (woos'ter), 172 
"World power," the United States a, 381 
World's fairs or exhibitions, 263, 342, 363, 393-' 

394, 412. See also Exhibitions 
" World 's Upside Down " (British tune), 169 
Worship, freedom of, 95. See also Religious Lib- 
erty 
Writs of Assi-stance (colonial period), 135, 137 
Wyoming, massacre of (Revolution), 163 
Wyoming and woman suffrage, 360 

and women in legislature, 360 

"X. Y. Z. Papers," the (1797), 188 

Yale University founded (1701), 75 
"Yankee Doodle" (Revolution), 143 
Yeardley (yeerd'ley). Governor, 50 
" Yes, we '11 rally round the flag," song, 308 
York, the Duke of, seizes New Netherland (1664), 
63 

seizes New Amsterdam (1664), 63 

names New York, 64 

seizes Delaware, 97 
Yorktown taken (1781), 169. See also Battles 
Yosemite (yo-sem'i-tee), 39.^ 
Young, Brigham, and the Mormons, 242. See 
also Mormons 



